19

19

Lauren sat, watching as Aaron stubbornly dragged all her things down the hallway to his room.

“Here.”

She glanced up, taking the mug that Grayson handed her and took a sip. Coffee.

“Thanks,” she said, her eyes trailing back towards Aaron’s room, far down the hallway. “Why is he so stubborn?” she asked Grayson.

Gray chuckled and shrugged. “That’s just the way he is, I guess. But, he’s right. You’ll be way safer here than you’d be at my place. Also, my mom would nag you to high heaven until you tell her everythin’ and we’re tryna keep this quiet.”

She shrugged and sighed, knowing he was right. They were both right, damn them. She had no choice, but to stay here since anybody else would just ask too many questions. And this would give her the perfect chance to speak with Selena, but Lauren also knew that staying with Aaron would be dangerous. She still wanted him. A lot. That wasn’t good.

But also…

She turned to Grayson. “What...what are people going to say once they hear that I’m staying with Aaron Spencer?” she asked, eyes wide.

“They won’t,” said Aaron from the doorway. He leaned his bulk against the wall and shrugged one shoulder. “We won’t tell them.”

She dragged her eyes away from his golden ones when she began to feel drawn in too deeply by them. “B-but things have a way of coming out.”

Grayson nodded. “Then to the rest of the world, you’re at my house. Besides, nobody’s going to ask except Natalie and the rest.”

Lauren shook her head, feeling uneasy. “What if they run into your mom at the market? They’ll figure it out and…no, I can’t.”

Aaron said nothing more. Only watched as Grayson tried to convince her. He studied the anxiety in her wide grey eyes. She cared so much…so much…about what other people thought. He saw the panic in her eyes when she realized than once people learned that she was at his place, they would talk. And they wouldn’t say nice things.

The mere thought of them knowing that she was with him scared her. He didn’t blame her. Who would want to be seen with someone everybody called a murderer? Aaron turned away from them, staring at space.

For a second, he was tempted to let her go with Gray, if only to take that frightened look out of her eyes, but he remembered that her being at Gray’s could put him and his mother in danger. She had to stay with Aaron. He had to protect her. He wanted to protect her and he would.

He pushed off the wall and strolled toward the kitchen.

“Lauren, you’re stayin’ here and that’s final,” he stated, ignoring the cold narrow-eyed look she pierced him with.

When she shot out of her chair to give him a piece of her mind, Grayson caught her wrists and eased her back down.

“Easy,” he murmured. “It’s for the best, trust me.”

Lauren huffed out a breath and nodded. “Fine. But I won’t let him boss me around!”

Gray nodded in agreement. “Absolutely, don’t you let him bully you!” he said, fighting a grin at the sight of her adorable scowl.

He chuckled, standing up. “I’ve got to go now. The roofing people are checkin’ out the ceilin’ and roof today, so we’re not goin’ in, but I’ll just check on them for you.”

She perked up in her seat, grabbing Gray’s hand. “What? You can’t leave! Don’t leave me!” Lauren whispered anxiously.

Grayson gave her a calming smile. “Hey, you’re safe here. I promise.”

She made a sound halfway between a laugh and a scoff. He had no idea what he was talking about. The moment he stepped out of that door and left them alone, she’d have to fight these urges to grab Aaron and taste his mouth again. He wanted her and she could see it and that just made things harder.

“I know. Haha,” Lauren said with a cute smile, laughing awkwardly. “I just want you to stay longer, we can have coffee and play scrabble. I’ve got it in my suitcase!”

He frowned in puzzlement. “Why did you carry a board game in your suitcase again?”

“It was in case I got bored somewhere, okay!” she said defensively and he nodded.

“Uh-huh. Right. Well, you can play with Aaron, I’ve gotta go, though.”

She glared at him, but he only chuckled and petted her cheek.

Lauren watched as he popped his head into the kitchen and murmured something to Aaron who murmured something back. Turning around, he blew an exaggerated kiss at her and strolled to the door, laughing when she stuck her tongue out at him.

Lauren turned back to find Aaron watching her curiously from the kitchen doorway.

She quickly drew her tongue back in and gave him a wary look.

He cocked his head to the side, looking every bit the devil-angel she now thought of him as.

“Hungry?” he asked and disappeared into the kitchen.

She blinked. Did he just expect her to follow him? Lauren planned to stubbornly sit her butt down on the sofa and not move an inch, but then her stomach growled and she remembered that she hadn’t had a bite to eat all morning. With a pout, she pulled herself off the couch and trudged after him.

He pointed to the chair and clenching her teeth, she sat. He placed a glass of fresh-looking juice before her and turned to the fridge.

“What do you feel like having?” Aaron asked as he studied all the food in the fridge, seemingly calm, but with chaos on the inside. What would he cook for her? Damn, what if she didn’t like his cooking? He winced and eyed the ham, eggs, milk and the rest of the stuff. God, it all suddenly looked so basic to him. He needed to make her something really delicious for breakfast. But what?

“Uhm...pancakes?” Lauren asked almost timidly, surprised he’d asked. She’d expected him to drop a bowl of something before her and bark ‘Eat.’.

Aaron looked at her over his shoulder and for the first time, Lauren caught what looked like anxiety in his swirling brown eyes. She blinked at him as he rubbed his forehead and pulled out milk and eggs.

“Oh,” he murmured. “Pancakes, okay.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. Was Aaron Spencer...nervous? Because of her?

A smile tugged at her lips and she let it tilt the corners up.

He opened a cupboard and quickly pulled out some flour and a bunch of other stuff.

“Need any help?” she offered and he glanced at her, a slightly offended look in his eyes.

“No. I can cook, alright?”

Lauren almost chuckled. “Alright.”

He got back to his tasks. She watched as he melted butter, poured milk and whisked eggs with ease. He had definitely made pancakes before.

Suddenly, he glanced up.

“Chocolate or vanilla?” he asked.

Lauren tilted her head in amusement, curiously studying the real anxiousness in his eyes over that one little detail.

“Chocolate,” she answered with a laugh. He glanced at her as he smoothly mixed the chocolate powder in, turning the mixture chocolate brown.

“What?” Aaron asked. “What’s so funny?”

Did she think he was doing it wrong? Was she laughing at him?

Lauren shook her head as she laughed. “Nothing, you’re just…”

“Just what?” Totally wrong? An idiot? Disastrous?

“Adorable.”

He stopped whisking and lifted his eyes up to hers. Slowly her smile faded away and the air thickened. The sunlight pouring in behind him turned her eyes from grey to a pure silver that stole his damn breath away. Aaron ripped his gaze away from hers and continued whisking. Silently, he poured in the first bit of mixture and focused entirely on making a perfect chocolate pancake. It was either focus on that or think back to the sexy way her mouth curved when she smiled at him. Or how soft her voice got when she called him...adorable.

If anybody else had called him that, they’d have probably walked away with two holes in their head from the glare he’d give them, but Lauren wasn’t just anybody. She was...Lauren.

He felt her eyes on his back and fought his own body when it tried to react to her presence. No, dammit. He wasn’t this weak!

She shouldn’t have that much power over him. He wouldn’t let her.

“Mornin’,” said a sweet voice.

“Good morning,” Lauren replied just as sweetly.

Aaron turned around as his mother practically waltzed into the kitchen. He smiled at her. “Mornin’, ma.”

She smiled and patted his cheek as he drew out a chair for her.

She lowered onto it and smiled at Lauren.

“Hello, dearie. You’re Lauren, aren’t you?” she asked. “Aaron’s friend.”

Lauren nodded with a relieved smile. She remembered her! That was good. “I sure am. And you’re Selena Spencer. Aaron’s mom.”

Selena chuckled. “As far as I know, yes, I am.”

They both laughed and Aaron watched, slightly dazed. He wasn’t really used to seeing his mother speaking this freely to anybody other than himself of Gray.

He turned back to the pan to flip the pancake, hiding the pained look that entered his eyes. His mother loved Woodfair with all of her heart. Born ‘n’ raised and had never wanted to leave. But the first chance they got, the bastards turned their back on her like she was nothing.

Fuck them. They didn’t deserve to have his mother’s pure light in their dead town anyway. And as soon as he cleared everything up, he was taking her away from here.

Lauren and Selena talked about random things like knitting and gardening behind him while he finished making pancakes and put the plates before his mom and Lauren.

He was making his mom a hot mug of milk when Lauren glanced up at him, having not had even one bite of her breakfast.

He raised his brows at her, questioning her stare. Selena looked quietly between them.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Lauren asked tentatively. Aaron blinked.

“Oh. Uhm, no, I’m alright…no.”

She tilted her head. “Why not? We can share mine, I’ll never eat all of it alone, Aaron.”

Aaron tensed as he placed the hot mug before Selena, ignoring the wide grin and wink she was giving him, but still, his heart swelled. She was at her best this morning and it reminded him of her true personality and how much he missed it.

He glanced into Lauren’s big grey eyes and felt himself crumble. “Okay.”

Awkwardly, he grabbed a fork and plate and sat beside her. He wasn’t hungry, he wanted to do some work around his mother’s garden before he got ready for work in the afternoon and frankly sitting next to Lauren was just plain dangerous, but damn it if he could say no to her when she said his name like that.

She stacked three pancakes onto his plate and drew a heart over her remaining three with syrup, before leaning over and drawing a similar heart over his.

Aaron stared at the heart for a second as she reached over and did the same to Selena’s pancakes.

“Oh, dear,” said Selena with a giggle.

Lauren grinned. “It’s a habit. My aunt hated it, but...since she passed on, I’ve done it even more often.”

Selena looked sad. “I’m sorry about your loss, dearie.”

Lauren waved it away, feeling guilty for not being as sad as she really should be about losing her aunt. Even if she had been strict, she’d still raised her.

“It’s alright,” she told Selena. “It’s been a month and some weeks now.”

Selena nodded with a sad smile. “But sometimes the pain never goes away. It’s been over twenty years since I lost my husband, but I miss him every day.”

Lauren slowly lowered her fork, feeling her heart break when a tear slipped down Selena’s cheek.

Reaching out with a gentle hand, Lauren wiped it away then wrapped her hand around the older woman’s.

“I’m so sorry…” she whispered. “It must’ve been hard.”

Selena nodded, vaguely remembering that Aaron didn’t like this topic, but ignoring that thought because it had been so long since she spoke of her late husband to anybody and Lauren was just so kind and ready to listen.

“It was,” she told Lauren. “He was the love of my life. Came along when I was only sixteen and corrupted me, that old rascal.”

Lauren chuckled at the amusement shining in Selena’s eyes.

“My papa never liked him, but I didn’ let that stop me from sneakin’ out the window,” she shared before giggling in such a girly manner, Lauren couldn’t help but laugh, intensely amused.

“Anything for love,” she told Selena.

“Exactly!” Aaron’s mother agreed and sighed wistfully. “I was nineteen years old when we got married. Had as much lace and silk on my dress as mama could fit on it! She loved my Richard. Said it didn’ matter nothin’ if a man wasn’ filthy rich, if he loved me as much as Rick did, then we’d be alright. My mama was right.” She sniffled. “We were alright.”

Lauren swallowed around the heavy lump in her throat and squeezed Selena’s hand.

“I hope I find a love like that someday,” Lauren whispered, meaning it. It was really something she wanted.

Selena smiled, dabbing at her eyes. “Oh, you will, honey. And when you do, don’t ever let him go.”

Lauren nodded and they smiled quietly at each other.

Aaron stared silently, slowly getting up to get his mother her medication. He clenched down on his jaw when he put his back to them and they continued their talk. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Lauren finding that ‘love’. Who the hell was she going to find it with? He pulled out the medication box and grabbed a glass. The thought of Lauren with another man…loving him…holding him…

Aaron closed his eyes, his teeth clenching painfully before he slowly eased up on his jaw and took a breath. He was being an immature prick, but he couldn’t deny the fact, even to himself. He didn’t want her with anybody but him. Ever since he’d seen her big frightened eyes in that car on the road, he’d wanted her for himself. To protect her from the world. And she would be his.

Taking another breath, he turned and put Selena’s medication in front of her.

When she saw it, she scowled, her blue eyes flashing at him.

“Aaron, I love you, but I’m gonna hit you over the head if you don’ take that away from me.”

He blinked.

“You’re taking your medication, mom,” Aaron said, still taken aback by how her voice had just rung out so strong and so...her.

Could it be possible that she’d come back to him for good? He didn’t dare hope. There were mornings when she woke up like this. They were the best mornings of his life these days.

Selena glanced at Lauren.

“You see that? Loves tellin’ me what to do, just like his daddy.”

Lauren laughed, unable to hold it when she saw Aaron pout.

Gently, she laid a hand over Selena’s and looked her in the eye.

“Aaron might be a bully, but he only wants you to take these because he loves you.”

Selena rolled her eyes and Lauren saw Aaron’s mouth twitch at the corners before a tiny smile curved them.

“Do you want me to take them?” Selena asked, tilting her head at Lauren and taking her attention away from Aaron’s mouth.

She quickly nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

Selena narrowed her eyes. “Because you love me?”

Lauren gave her a bright smile that nearly knocked Aaron over. “Absolutely, I love you.”

Selena chuckled and tweaked Lauren’s nose. “Aw, I love you too, but I want pancakes again tomorrow mornin’ for this,” she said flatly with a look that allowed no argument.

Lauren laughed and nodded. “Deal!”

Aaron watched as Lauren successfully got his mother to take her medication. A soft smile played on his lips and Selena eyed him in amusement as he stared at Lauren.

“Oi!” she called him and whistled. Lauren threw her head back with laughter. Aaron’s gaze darted to his mom’s.

“Ma?”

She tilted her head at him. “You gonna keep starin’ at her or you gonna help me off this chair? I need my bath.”

He nodded, appalled that he could feel his face burning with embarrassment. His mom had caught him staring at Lauren and made no secret of it. Great.

He glanced quickly at Lauren as he lifted Selena off her chair and the little grin playing on her lips while she gave him that mischievous look nearly had him groaning.

Averting his gaze from her, he got Selena up and she waved him away after patting his cheek affectionately.

“I’ll be out soon,” she murmured as she shoved her hands into her bathrobe pockets and left the kitchen.

Left alone with Lauren, Aaron hardly knew what to do. In his own kitchen! It was a disgrace.

Disgusted with himself, he avoided her gaze and began picking up the dirty dishes.

His movements stilled, however, when her hand covered his from across the table. He stared down at it like it was an exotic flower from a lost city.

“Let me,” Lauren said and gently took the dishes from his hand.

He stood back and watched as she scooped everything into one of the two large sinks and began washing.

Unsure what to do with his hands, Aaron shoved them into his pockets.

He studied the nape of her slender neck while she washed, her hair tied up on the top of her head. That neck. He knew what it tasted like. He knew what she tasted like everywhere. And heavens knew it was a taste that he’d been burning to have again since she’d snuck out earlier.

He kept remembering how she’d been moaning his name in her sleep. The thought of Lauren dreaming of him...and in that way...fuck, it made him want her.

Swallowing hard, Aaron turned his gaze away and ran a hand through his hair. No. He had to stay focused. He had to start on his plans and he couldn’t let himself become distracted. Even if she really was the best distraction he ever came across.

With a frustrated sigh, he pulled open the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, hoping it would cool his overheated body.

“You miss him?” he heard Lauren ask and he turned to her. She still faced the sink.

“What?”

“Your daddy. You miss him?”

He paused and then took a big gulp of water, a memory of his father coming to him. Big, gentle and always smiling with his sparkling light brown eyes. Richard Spencer had been Aaron’s idol.

“Yeah. Sometimes.” He said quietly and saw her nod. Then a thought occurred to him. “What about your dad?” he asked.

Lauren shrugged. “My aunt said my mom was troublesome and got herself pregnant by the choir leader to spite my grandfather when she was nineteen. Pops banned my father’s family from the church and they left the town when everyone started treating them like dirt. She never told me his name.”

Aaron frowned as he got a vague memory of that mini-scandal from long ago. He shook his head. Andrew Davidson, the choir leader was Lauren’s father? Wow. Aaron had been a kid who usually minded his own business and never asked why the Davidson family suddenly packed up and left Woodfair.

Now he knew why.

What he didn’t know was whether he should tell her.