Chapter 71
Silence once again settled between us but I could feel the rage radiating off of Aiden in waves. I couldn’t tell if he was angry at me but I wouldn’t blame him if he was. I had been a coward. I had thought–ignoring the problem would make it go away. I had thought gluing myself to Kyle would keep Noah away long enough to graduate and be free forever. But I had been naive. I had used Kyle like a shield and now he was suffering the consequences.
“You have to report this, Ellie.” Aiden’s voice was so calm and measured that I felt my stomach clench in guilt.
“I did.” I muttered. “I told the principal everything.”
“I meant the police, Ellie.”
I sighed in frustration, hot tears leaking from the corners of my eyes once more. “There’s no
point…”
“Damnit Ellie!” Aiden’s voice was loud, bleeding frustration and rage, his palm smacking the steering wheel making me flinch. “He has assaulted you! He had stalked you! He broke into
your house and planted a camera! What next? Huh? He’s a fucking psycho and he’s not going
to stop!”
“Don’t you think I don’t know that?” I suddenly yelled back, rage flooding my veins like fire. “I
know this is all wrong and I know he’s dangerous!”
“Then do something about it, Ellie!”
“I can’t!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m scared!” I cried, my voice breaking as the sobs began.
I felt Aiden’s hand find mine but I pushed him away. Instead I opened the door and jumped out of the truck letting the cold night air hit me making my eyes sting and the tear tracks feel
like ice.
Of course I was scared. Noah had made it his life’s mission to tear me down and for what reason? It’s not like I had ever done anything to offend him or hurt him? I didn’t even really know of his existence until he insisted on inserting himself into my life. I knew he wouldn’t just stop either. I hardly knew the guy but something about him not only filled me with complete terror but also let me know he wasn’t one to just give up so easily. And yet, against
1/3
Chapter 71
my better judgement I had gotten other people involved and they were paying for it.
“El,” Aiden’s voice cut through the windy silence.
“Don’t…” I muttered, too ashamed by my outburst to look at him. “I know I’ve been a coward. I know I’ve been pretending nothing was wrong but what was I supposed to do, Aiden?-I’ve been on my own for so long that I did what I had to to survive. I kept telling myself i just had to get through this year at school and it’d be over. I don’t have friends, my brother is halfway around the world in a dangerous country and my parents up and left us high and dry! So forgive me if I didn’t want to draw attention to myself or didn’t know exactly what to do.”
Aiden sighed, his blue eyes never leaving me even if I could barely bring myself to look at him I couldn’t take the pity shining in his eyes. He cared but he didn’t understand. He had grown up with friends and the ability to defend himself but what he saw in front of him wasn’t someone who was capable of that. He saw a victim, a girl in need of rescuing and sadly, he was
right.
He finally pulled me to him gently, wrapping his large arms around me and pressing my cheek to his chest. For a moment I remained tense but his warmth and his soothing scent of cologne and cigarettes got me and the tension in my muscles melted away like ice in the sun.
“You’re not alone anymore.” He murmured, his voice so gentle and yet so strong at the same time. “You don’t need to go through this alone anymore. I want to be here for you. Every step
of the way.”
I didn’t say anything, my tears still rolling slowly down my frozen cheeks as the night wrapped around us. For a few minutes I let myself pretend that nothing else mattered or existed. It was just us, Aiden’s arms around me and the sound of his heart thumping in my ear.
“I’ll go to the police.” I finally said, letting a shaking breath leave my lungs.
Aiden’s muscles around me relaxed slightly letting me know he was relieved by my statement but he didn’t say anything about it except for a quiet “Okay“.
The car ride back into town was as equally quiet as the one out. This time though, Aiden’s hand barely left my leg as his thumb ran circles over my denim clad limb. The air between us had changed again and even though we were heading in the direction of the police station, I felt myself calm thanks to Aiden’s touch.
I silently hoped that after tonight the nightmare would be over and I could focus on this young blossoming relationship with Aiden. I felt like we hadn’t even really had a chance to figure things out and while I was under no illusion that Aiden hadn’t been in plenty of relationships before, Aiden was in fact my first kiss, my first real crush…basically my first everything. It did
before, Aider
Chapter 71
amaze me that all of his hadn’t scared him off though. What guy wants to be with someone who has a crazy stalker classmate and gets their cousin suspended from school?
Yet Aiden was still here, even when we finally walked into the police station. He placed a reassuring hand on my back as I told the officer at the information desk about what had been happening. The only time he left my side was to get me a bottle of water from the vending machine and even then, he was within sight, his ocean blue eyes finding me and a warm smile appearing on his handsome features.
Unloading everything onto the officer sent over to take my statement seemed to go on for a lifetime. It occurred to me at some point during the interview that I had felt like I was going crazy and yet now, people were believing me, people who could make a difference. I felt like an idiot for not doing this before but I wasn’t going to go down that line of thought today.
I hated the idea of parting with my phone for evidence but the officer assured me they would get it back to me as soon as possible. Someone would also be coming to find the camera but it could be days before that happened. That was the only time Aiden showed any discontent, unhappy that it would be days before the offending item was gone.
“You’re not staying in that room while the camera is still in there.” Aiden grumbled when we were finally on our way home. “Like fuck is that pervert getting anymore photos of you.”
“So where am I going to sleep?” I asked tiredly.
“In my bed.” Aiden replied simply before smirking cheekily. “It’s not like you haven’t don’t so before.” (1
I blushed and shrank down into my seat.
Chapter Comments
Kimberley Payne
POST COMMENT
we all know Noah is far from done. he is for sure going after Aiden next. maybe his new bar or him personally. poor Ellie she doesn’t deserve this. I can totally relate to the ho… View All 2 Comments
13
<SHARE
I’ll Be Seeing You
