Page 37 of His Secret Little

Oh, hell no! There was no way he was letting Aiden blame himself for this, “There was no reason to think we needed to look further, baby. Why would we? We thought we were looking for a full member.”

“Yeah, well, anyway…” When Aiden didn’t continue for a bit Rocky reached over and grabbed his hand, giving a light squeeze of comfort and encouragement. “His sister was killed. She was staying at a battered women’s shelter when the enraged ex of one of her two roommates broke in and killed all three of them.”

“Wait,” Blade cut in, “Are you saying what the fuck I think you’re saying?”

“Yeah, his sister was killed at the Hope’s Stand Women’s Shelter shooting.”

Hope’s Stand was the women’s shelter they’d taken the very first woman they’d ever liberated from an abusive marriage to. They’d been new to their mission, dumb enough to believe if they just got her out and got her to the shelter, she’d be fine. She hadn’t been.

It hadn’t taken long at all for her ex-husband to figure out where she was and kill three innocent women–one of whom had apparently been Drake’s sister. Since then, they’d learned to be much more careful, but they were all still haunted by the women who’d paid the price for the club being too young and naive.

“Fuck!” Blade’s curse was loud enough for a few heads in the diner to turn their way, but no one looked for too long, “How did we not catch this when he first came to us?”

“There wasn’t really a reason to go deep enough to find the information. He doesn’t share the same last name as his sister since they were half siblings. Different dads. No red flags came up, so there was no reason to dive deeper.”

Rocky was so fucking proud of Aiden. He knew his baby was hurting, and yet he continued on speaking as though nothing bothered him.

“Well, fuck.” Blade’s curse that time was much quieter. He turned his head toward Rich and asked in a low tone, “Wouldn’t happen to know where we can find him right about now, would you?”

Rich visibly gulped before squeaking out, “No.” He cleared his throat and then said, “But we’re supposed to meet for dinner tonight.”

“Where and when?”

Aiden

Aiden felt as if he’d disconnected from the scene around him. He felt stupid and beyond betrayed. He’d thought Rich had genuinely liked him and wanted to be friends, but Rich had simply been trying to get information to use against him. How could he have been foolish enough to think he’d made a friend?

He was aware of Daddy’s hand smoothing up and down his back, the guys making plans to meet with Drake instead of Rich, but it was like he was observing the scene, rather than part of it. He wasn’t paying attention to what was said, he couldn’t. It was as if his senses had shut down. He knew in a vague, dreamlike way, that things were happening, but he couldn’t focus on any of it.

Aiden startled when Rich entered his line of sight, looking for all the world like he’d lost his best friend, but had he? Had Rich ever even been his friend? Aiden didn’t know what to do with deception. It was a foreign concept to him in most cases. Sure, he’d kept some things from the club, but he’d never outright lied to them. If any of them had asked him, they’d have learned the truth about Aiden long ago. He couldn’t understand Rich coming to him with the intent to deceive him.

“I came to you because I consider you a friend. I know I approached you for the wrong reasons at first, but over the months I’ve come to know you better. I genuinely like you, Aiden, and I think we have a lot more in common than either of us knew. I just hope you can forgive me.”

Rich didn’t wait for Aiden’s reply, he turned for the door, shoulders drooping and looking defeated. Aiden almost felt sorry for him, but as soon as the feeling welled he reminded himself that Rich had been playing a part.

But then, why would he say what he just had?

Aiden’s head was beginning to swim. Everything around him was blurring and it was becoming harder for him to focus on any one thing. His mind was overloaded and he could tell he was about to shut down.

Before it could become too bad, he turned to his Daddy and whispered, “Get me out of here, please.”

Aiden didn’t have to say more than that and, for the first time in his life, he completely trusted another person and let go. He didn’t know what followed those words, he’d retreated into himself too far to care. He simply needed to escape the overload of noise around him and the rioting emotions inside him. So, he did. Trusting that his Daddy would know what he needed.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Rocky

It was like as soon as he’d whispered his request, Aiden had checked out. He’d just gone totally blank. Rocky had wasted no time in getting him out of Ralf’s, and back to the safety of home.

Aiden had barely managed to be supported to walk out of the diner so when they got home, Rocky had carried him inside. He’d quickly changed him into a pair of comfortable and soft joggers that he knew Aiden loved, along with an oversized, well-worn t-shirt. He’d then taken Aiden into the playroom, arranging the giant octopus beanbag seat Aiden loved so he could settle his boy comfortably on it.

Rocky lay on the floor next to the plush chair and rubbed his boy’s arm. He didn’t speak and kept the lights low, simply offering the comfort of touch. Aiden would come back to him when he was more settled. In the meantime, Rocky simply wanted his boy to know that Daddy was there and would keep him safe.

“There you are.” Rocky said as he felt Aiden finally stir. Rocky was beginning to worry because it had been a while. But now that he felt stirring from his baby, that worry eased.

Aiden rolled to his side, snuggling closer to both the Octopus he was on and Rocky’s hand that was still rubbing his arm. Aiden circled his other arm around Rocky’s and just lay there silently staring up at Rocky with big trusting eyes and Rocky felt about ten feet tall. There was nothing in this world as satisfying as trust freely given from a person who didn’t trust easily. Rocky swore right then and there he’d never betray that trust.

The silence continued for a few minutes before Aiden finally whispered, “thank you,” as if Rocky had taken down Goliath for him instead of simply taking care of his baby boy.

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