Page 19 of Tell Me No
Her question surprises me but brings a smile to my face. “My parents are the shit,” I chuckle. “They adopted me when I was almost six, but never made me feel like I wasn't their own flesh and blood. My mom, she's always been a teacher. Still is to this day, even though I've begged her to retire. And my dad restores classic cars with all his free time. He retired from private security a few years back.”
“Private security? What does that mean?” she asks, enthralled by anything and everything I'm telling her.
“Similar to what I do, but without the killing,” I joke, and her eyes widen. “I'm kidding, Aurora. I hardly do any killing at all.” I smirk.
“You’re not gonna scare me off, ya know,” she replies with an easy grin. “I know all I need to know about your character, Jason. You could tell me you’ve ended a thousand lives and it wouldn’t make a difference to me.”
“It should,” I say, running a hand down my face. “It’s not something you should be drawn to.”
“Maybe not. But some people just need killing,” she says with a shrug. The world seems so simple in her eyes. I wish I could see it the way she does.
“Can I ask you something?” she says, barely a whisper.
“Anything. I can't promise I'm always going to give you an answer. Some things are just safer left unknown. But if I can be, I'll always be open and honest with you,” I tell her, intertwining her delicate fingers with mine.
“Last night. You said you’ve never killed an innocent. So… who do you kill?” she looks back at me with wide, curious eyes. I don’t see an ounce of hesitation or judgment there. That should give me reason to worry. But it gives me a sense of calm I've never felt with anyone else before. With Aurora, I feel like I could bare my soul, spread all my dark and devious cards out on the table, and she would still be there. I take a deep breath, knowing anything I say after this could take her from me forever. Shit, she could go to the cops and have me put away for life. But something tells me she won't, that she would guard my deepest secrets with her life just as I would hers.
“I took lives in the Corps. It was my job, so I never thought twice. If an enemy had Ev, Eli, or hell, even Iris, in their sights, I never hesitated to take them out. When I got out, I lost that sense of right and wrong. My life wasn’t black and white anymore. It was almost like I needed that direction, someone to tell me where to aim and shoot. Without that, I was just lost. I’d always been handy with computers, so I started picking up contracts. At first, it was just intel gathering, nothing more or less than I did for Uncle Sam. But then I picked up a job that changed my outlook on my involvement in these people's lives. A man put out a fishing expedition looking for information about his missing daughter. When I dug deeper, I found out someone had kidnapped her from her fucking yoga class. It never ceases to amaze me how low some of these fuckers will stoop. Anyway, I tracked her down. She was trapped in a sex trafficking ring in South America. You’d be terrified to know how common that really is.” She listens intently to everything I’m telling her, eyes wide but not interrupting. “By the time I could put a team together to extract her, she’d OD’ed on heroine. That was the final straw for me. I couldn’t stay behind the screen when I knew how to cut this shit off at the source.”
“So you kill the people who deserve it, the ones the world is a better place without,” she says, so matter-of-factly it’s like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Well… kinda, I guess. But killing is killing, princess. Doesn’t matter who it is, my soul is still stained,” I tell her, talking a long drink of my coffee and letting it burn a path down my throat.
She stands from her side of the table, walks to mine, and climbs into my lap, straddling my legs. Her hands wrap around my neck, fingers digging into the hair at the nape of my neck like she always does. Her lips brush against mine so softly I almost don’t feel them.
“I think your soul and my soul are the best of friends, honey. You keep making this world a safer place than it was yesterday, and I’ll worry about the state of your soul. Deal?” She sounds so sure that I’m a good man. I can’t bring myself to argue with her.
I press my forehead against hers, closing my eyes and breathing her in. All her goodness and her sweet, earthy scent soaks into my pores, wrapping around my heart and squeezing tight. I hold her like my life depends on it, like I might die if I ever let go. Because I might. No one has ever seen me the way she does.
“Is it Alex? Or maybe it’s Cameron?” She says, her beautiful smile making me smile.
She’s relentless in her guessing game. I open my mouth to tell her everything running through my mind right now, but the shrill ringing of her phone beats me to it. Without climbing off my lap, she reaches behind her and picks it up.
“It’s Kels. Hold that thought.” She taps the answer button and lifts the phone to her ear, all the while stroking my neck softly.
“Hey angel face, what’s up?” She asks, and I hear mumbling from the other end of the line. Aurora’s brows knit together in concern. “Oh, Ev. I’m so sorry. What can I do?” I left an eyebrow, silently asking her what the problem is.
“I can be there in like half an hour. My car is still at work, but Jason can bring me home. Ok, I’ll see you in a bit,” she hangs up, dropping her head onto my shoulder and sighing.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Kelsea started her period. She was a few days late, so they were hopeful,” she replies, her voice heavy with sadness for our friends.
I stand, wrapping her legs around my waist and carrying her inside the house. I walk into my bedroom, her head still resting against my shoulder. Slowly, I untangle her from me, placing her on her feet and kissing her forehead softly.
“Let’s go, baby,” is all I say before turning to pull clean clothes from my dresser drawer. She gets ready quickly, pulling on her shorts from last night. In the light of the morning, she almost looks silly wearing her cutoffs with my tee hanging off one shoulder.
“What?” she asks, noticing the way I’m smirking at her.
“I like you in my clothes,” I tell her, leaning against the door frame to the bathroom as she combs through her hair with her fingers.
“Better than my tits hanging out of my Bombshell’s t-shirt, huh?” She laughs and I cough, always shocked by the crass shit that comes out of her mouth.
“Aurora, nothing is better than your tits hanging out of your Bombshell’s t-shirt. But maybe next time, pack an overnight bag.” Snagging her hand, I pull her out to my bike. I speed through the streets of Grovewood, the scenery flying by as I soak in the feeling of Aurora’s arms wrapped tightly around my waist. She lays her head against my back, and I feel like every shitty moment in my life has led me to this.
We pull up in front of the townhouse Aurora shares with Ev and Kelsea in record time. Before I can even cut the engine, she’s already climbing off the seat behind me and rushing for the door. If there’s anything I admire about Aurora most, it’s her incredible heart. The devotion she gives to the people she loves is unparalleled. She gives them everything she’s got, even when she doesn’t have much to give. I follow her inside, shutting the front door behind me. Water is running somewhere, but everything else is quiet.
“Kels? Kelsea?” She shouts, walking through the living room and kitchen. The back door opens and Everett comes in, his face the picture of grief.
