Page 27 of Vain
“We went to high school together, though he was a couple of years ahead of me, so he doesn’t really remember me.”
“What was he like in high school?”
“A band geek. Actually, he was just a geek. Smart fucker. That’s not changed. From what I remember, he was lanky, skinny, and a bit of a loner. He was on a full ride to fucking Harvard.”
I whistle between my teeth. “Wow, you weren’t kidding about being smart.”
“Yeah. Smart doesn’t make you lucky, though. His twin sister, Abigail, was diagnosed with something. I can’t remember the name. I know it was long. Kellen passed up the chance to go to Harvard to stay and help his mom out when dad bounced after things got too hard for him to cope with. When Abigail needed a kidney, Kellen was a match, so he gave her one of his. She was doing okay for about a year before she got an infection, and she went into complete organ failure. The official cause of death was a heart attack, but everything was shutting down by that point. I swear he’d have cut out his own heart and given it to her if he could have.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Death doesn’t care how smart, rich, or popular you are. It comes for us all and gives zero fucks about the wreckage it leaves behind.”
“Is he still close to his mom?”
“She died six months to the day after Abigail died. A drunk driver hit her as she left the cemetery, of all places. She’d been putting flowers on her daughter’s grave, not knowing she’d be lying right beside her a month later.”
I feel a tear run down my face for a man I’ve never met and the loss he’s had to endure. “I’m glad he has you and the others. It sounds like he lost one family but gained another.”
“Sometimes I wonder if it’s enough.”
“It is,” I whisper. “I’ve been with you for a little while, but if you’ve been even half the man with Kellen that you’ve been with me, then yeah, it’s enough, Aiden.”
I drift off to sleep like I always do when I fly. I pass out on any mode of transport other than a car, where I get sick if I’m anywhere but the front seat.
When I wake up, I see Aiden’s face right in front of me. “You with me?”
I nod, still a little disorientated.
“When you sleep, you sleep hard,” he jokes.
“Wish I slept this well in bed. I only sleep like the dead when I’m traveling. I don’t know why. At home, though, I sleep like crap.”
“When you can’t sleep, come and wake me up.”
“Are you going to drive me around the neighborhood until I fall asleep?” I tease, remembering once upon a time my father doing that with me, back before I realized what a shithead he was.
“If that’s what you needed, absolutely. But I’m sure I could think of a much more pleasurable way to tire you out.”
I bite my lip and cross my legs, feeling a sudden ache between them. It’s been a long time since I’ve let a man get close to me, let alone let one inside me. But Aiden is unlike any man I’ve ever met. Sure, he’s good-looking and confident, but that’s all he has in common with the actors and musicians I usuallymeet. He’s done nothing but show me respect, something I’ve had to fight tooth and nail for with others. Aiden does it as naturally as breathing. He doesn’t make me feel less for being a woman. In the field I’m in, I’ve worked with some utter bastards who, at the very least, treated me like a shiny bauble. And, at worst, like they had the right to do what they wanted with me, or I’d never work again. As I’d rather never work again than suck off a man three times my age in the back of a limo, I’ve never crossed the line. So many other women like me did. I don’t judge them for it, they likely felt they had no choice. That’s why the movie I’m working on now is important to me. Aside from the fact that there are still not nearly enough female directors out there, the movie itself resonates with me. It’s about a popular actress who got eaten up and spat out by Hollywood. She ended up homeless on the street and alone, but she went on to defy the odds and launch the mother of all comebacks. She became rich and successful beyond her wildest dreams before passing peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. I’ve always been a sucker for a rags-to-riches story, but the journey this one takes us on had a profound effect on me.
“I’ve lost you, haven’t I?”
I flush. “Sorry, I got lost in my head. I do that sometimes. I don’t mean to. My teacher used to say I daydreamed away her lessons.”
I close my eyes briefly, telling myself to shut up. He doesn’t need to hear about what Mrs. Madeline thought about me.
“You’re adorable. If we didn’t need to get moving, I’d show you just what that blush of yours does to me.”
“I’m ready.” I jump up and nearly miss headbutting him. I groan, embarrassed, ignoring his chuckle as he takes my hand and leads me off the plane.
Thankfully, Marley had the foresight to order a car for us so we wouldn’t have to flag down a cab. As we get closer, I feel Aiden getting more and more tense.
“He’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah,” he replies, but there’s no conviction in his answer.
As we pull up outside the hospital, I tug on a baseball cap and oversized glasses as Aiden jumps out and walks around to open my door. He holds it open and helps me out, keeping hold of my hand. I remember how surprised I was the first time. Now, I think I’d be more surprised if he didn’t do it.
