Tormented (Evolution Series Book 2) (5 page)

He picked up a strand of my hair and twirled it through his fingers. “I know what Anna told you tonight must have been really hard on you, but I don’t think blaming yourself will do any good either. You’re
not
responsible for what this person has done to anyone. Okay?”

“Did you know about this?” I asked, wondering if his parents had told him earlier, and he had been keeping information from me.

He let go of my hair and dropped his hand onto the bed. “I only found out about it tonight after they saw what happened in Thailand,” he said, proving me right in thinking that they had been talking about what they had seen and were purposely excluding me from the conversation. He let out a sigh. "It wasn’t like that. They weren’t excluding you from the conversation in an attempt to try to keep information from you. They were trying to work out if all the things that have happened over the last couple of months were linked. And yeah, it looks like they are.”

Realising
he hadn’t told me everything, I asked, “So why did you stay back to talk with the rest of the guys, instead of coming with me while Anna told me about it?”

“Anna didn’t want to wait any longer to tell you, and the others wanted to ask me a few questions.”

“Like?” I wasn’t going to leave it at that.

“Like if we had noticed anyone watching us, or ever felt like we were being watched in Thailand. And whether I noticed anything inside that psycho’s head when I was…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, but I knew he was going to say when he was killing him. Aiden had saved my life by screwing with the guy’s mind, so yeah, if anyone knew something, it would be him.

He took a deep breath. “Except I didn’t notice anything. I was too pissed off when I saw you strapped to that bed. I became so fixated in making him pay for doing that to you. I didn’t even think of trying to find out why,” he admitted, sounding completely pissed at
himself
.

I put my hand on his chest, wishing I could take away the pain he was feeling. “You did the best you could in the situation. You didn’t even know that someone could have been making him do that to me.” It was one thing for me to beat myself up, but it was another to let Aiden do the same to himself. “This is going to get us nowhere. We both blame ourselves for things we should’ve done differently, but we can’t change the past. What’s done is done,” I said, knowing full well that neither of us were going to ever truly stop beating ourselves up over things we should’ve done differently.

I rolled over onto my back and stared absently at the ceiling. Neither of us said anything more for a few minutes. But when it came to
us, that
usually didn’t mean that much. Well, at least it didn’t for Aiden because he still had those mind barriers up, so I was unable to hear his thoughts, but he could still hear mine. And if my mother’s murderer was like us, I was guessing that learning how to protect my mind was going to be a necessity.

“So how do you plan on finding him?” Aiden asked.

Not taking my eyes off the ceiling, I shrugged. “I don’t know.” And I didn’t, but I did know where I would have to start. I would have to go back home. I would have to return to the scene of my mother’s murder. The thought of returning home made me sick to my stomach. I thought I had come to terms with what happened to her, but with it being time to go back, I wasn’t so sure.

“You’re not going to go through this alone,” Aiden said, lacing his fingers with mine.

A few seconds later, I was welcoming those feel-good endorphins he sent my way. “Thanks,” I said with a smile. “I think I’m going to need a lot more of those over the coming days.”

“So when are we going back?”

“How long do you think it will take for you to teach me how to put up my own mind barriers?” I asked.

He let out another sigh. “I’ve told you before, it’s not something I can teach you. It just happens, just like it did when you first started being able to hear people’s thoughts.”

I remembered back to my first time. It happened just as Aiden had assured me it would. One minute, I only had my own thoughts running through my mind, and the next, I could hear everyone else’s, too. Well, maybe not everyone’s, as I could only hear someone’s thoughts if they were within a
metre
or two of me. It was really hard to deal with at first. And I finally understood what Aiden had said about mind reading not being all it’s cracked up to be. Most people were very judgmental, but others would never know because people said one thing while thinking another.

“So there’s nothing I can do,” I said, disappointed.

“Well, there’s no harm in
trying
to block your own thoughts.” When I gave him a questioning look, he continued. “Just imagine putting up a mental barrier around your mind. It might work.”

I concentrated all my efforts on building a mental barrier to cover my mind. At first, I imagined a brick wall, but then I changed it to a metal barrier when I
realised
that bricks couldn’t really mold to the shape of a brain.

“Is it working?” I asked, once I envisioned a liquid metal structure surrounding my mind.

Aiden cracked up laughing, and I
realised
he had only been joking. He had never really thought that imagining the barrier around my mind would really work. “You should’ve seen your face,” he said, imitating what I had supposedly looked like when I was trying the impossible.

I rolled my eyes and turned over so that my back was facing him. Aiden had an annoying habit of making fun of me while I was trying my hardest to get my abilities to work. I supposed it probably was funny, watching me attempt what came so easily to him. Of course, he hadn’t worked out the whole transportation thing, so I had one up on him. It was just a pity that he was still ahead by another fifty. Okay, so maybe not fifty, but it was still a lot more than I had.

I fought the smile that was threatening to show itself as I imagined what I must have looked like building my mental barrier. But I would never admit it could ever be a laughing matter, although my admitting wouldn’t really matter because he would already know. Damn my not being able to block my own thoughts!

CHAPTER 5

The smell of coffee woke me the next morning. I opened my eyes to find none other than Bernard the butler standing at the foot of the bed. I was thankful that I still had on Aiden’s T-shirt. Otherwise, the whole situation would've been a lot more awkward that it already was. I hoped to God that Bernard barging in wasn’t going to be a regular occurrence.

“Good morning, Miss
Sommers
,” he said in his endearing English accent. “Would you like some coffee?”

“It’s just Jade,” I corrected him. I didn’t think I could stand another day with all the formalities. And if what Aiden had said was true about Bernard just putting on a show, then I wanted it to end as soon as possible. Aiden’s side of the bed was vacant. I could feel him close by and figured he was already in the shower.

“Yes, of course, Miss…
er
, I mean,
Jade
.”

I guessed it was going to take some time for him to get used to thinking of me as one of the family. Someone that he didn’t need to put a show on for. He turned back towards the trolley that he had somehow got into the room without me hearing. “I have tea if you prefer.”

“Coffee will be great. Thanks,” I said, sitting up and plumping the pillows up behind me.

“How do you take it?”

“White with one.”

He didn’t say anything more while he made my coffee, and I was glad when he turned around and handed me a mug. Yes, mug. At least that was one thing the Scotts must have liked about the Aussie way. We didn’t do teacups and, when it came to coffee, the bigger the mug, the better.

I inhaled the aroma, hoping that it tasted as good as it smelt. Bernard just stood with his hands behind his back, staring at me, as if waiting for a tip, and I was pretty sure that people didn’t tip a butler. An awkward look lingered between us as I tried to work out why he was standing there, watching, waiting for something. I wished I could have just disappeared, but I was guessing that would seem a little rude. I took a sip, still trying to work out what was going on, and why I couldn’t hear Bernard’s thoughts. I hoped Aiden was going to come back soon to rescue me from the awkward situation.

“Is everything to your satisfaction?” he asked.

“It’s good. Thanks.” And I wasn’t just saying that because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. The coffee was
really
good.

He clasped his hands together in front of him. “Is there anything I can get you before I leave?”

Was that what the awkwardness was all about? He was just waiting for me to take a sip? “No thank you,” I said, before taking another sip.

“Very well.” He turned back to his trolley and pushed it out of the room.

Aiden came strolling in just as Bernard was closing the door. He wore nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His smooth muscles were accentuated by remnants of the shower. “He makes a good coffee, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, he does,” I said, a little surprised that an English person could actually make something that remotely resembled it. They were known for their tea, not coffee. But it was one of the best coffees I’d ever tasted, which was actually saying something. Most people would think that the best coffee in the world would be in Italy, but they would be wrong. Apparently, Australia came out on top. In some ways, that wasn’t so surprising, considering Aussies were made up of every nationality around the world.

I took another sip,
savouring
the sweet taste on my lips. God, I loved my coffee. “Oh, yeah, what’s the go with me not being able to hear his thoughts?” I asked, remembering how strange it was not to be able to hear someone’s thoughts, other than the next gens, of course.

A smile spread across Aiden’s face.

“What?” I asked, not getting what he found so amusing.

“You must be blocking his thoughts from your mind,” he said.

“Oh, great. I can’t even block my own damn thoughts, yet I’ve somehow learnt to block other people’s thoughts from mine.” That one I really didn’t need to learn as much as I needed to work out how to block my own thoughts from others like us. And if I
was
a betting girl, I would put a thousand on me not being able to pull that one off again if I tried.

Aiden walked over to the sofa. He sat down, picked up what I presumed was a cup of coffee, and took a sip. I guessed Bernard got that one in without me seeing, too.

“So what do you want to do today?” he asked casually. Considering I still hadn’t learnt to block my thoughts, I was sure he already knew what I was planning, but I guessed he must have wanted to hear me say it.

“I’m going home,” I replied softly. I was starting to make myself sick thinking about going back, but I had to do it.

Aiden nodded. “When do you want to leave?” he asked before taking another sip of his coffee.

“What time is it over there?” I really didn’t want to turn up at my house in the middle of the night and have my old
neighbour
, Mrs. Carson, call the police on us.

“
Ahh
…” He paused while he grabbed his iPhone. “It’s about five in the afternoon.”

Good. At that time of year, we still had a couple of hours left before nightfall.

“You want to go now?” he asked with a surprised tone.

“No. After we’ve finished our coffee.”