33

33

The car ride had been quiet with Aaron keeping his eyes on the dark road, Selena asleep in the backseat and Lauren too content to do more than stare quietly at the passing trees. She’d seen her mother, what more could she want?

“She’s so beautiful,” she finally said quietly, a smile curving her mouth.

Aaron glanced over, his gaze lingering for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he told her.

Lauren frowned and turned to him. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Still. You saw your mother for the first time in twenty years and you couldn’t even spend more than a few hours with her. I didn’t plan things this way.”

Lauren said nothing. Her eyes studied him as he drove. Why was he sorry? After bearing the title of a killer for twenty years, saving her life on multiple occasions and then reuniting her with her mother, why did Aaron have to go and be sorry? Lauren sighed. He was the most amazing human being she had ever seen and Lauren was beginning to wonder if she really deserved such a great man.

“The fact remains,” she told him. “That I did see my mother after twenty years. And that was thanks to you. So don’t be sorry, Aaron.”

He glanced at her and there was more meaning in the look in his eyes than there ever could be in words, so Lauren returned his peaceful silence and turned back to the window.

She had wanted to stay the night with her mother and get to know her all over again, but it hadn’t been possible.

Woodfair was a mess, they had to go back. Selena had gotten very tired and although Richard had wanted her to remain with him, Aaron hadn’t been comfortable with the idea. Since, in Woodfair, Richard Spencer was still a dead man, he’d had no choice but to stay behind while Aaron took Selena back home.

Now all they had to do was build a case against the Mayor’s family kick them out of Town’s Hall and then clear Aaron’s name. Lauren hoped it would be as easy as it sounded.

In the silence, Aaron’s phone vibrated. He glanced down at it but ignored the call. They were nearly home anyway.

Lauren glanced at him, wondering whose call he was ignoring.

Stacy’s?

Lauren pursed her lips, trying to ignore her taunting inner voice. It didn’t matter if it was Stacy’s call, she was nothing more than a colleague.

A colleague who’d been working with Aaron for the past few years and had known him for far longer than she—

No! Stop it right now! Lauren pressed her fingers to her temples and squeezed her eyes tight. She focused all her might on killing such toxic thoughts, firing them right out of her head.

“What are you doin’?”

Lauren opened her eyes. The car had stopped moving and was parked in Aaron’s driveway. He sat staring at her with a raised brow and a curious smile.

Lauren cleared her throat. “Uh... meditating?”

Aaron gave her a nod and a look packed with the most sarcasm she’d ever seen. “Sure.” He looked at Selena over his shoulder. “Ma? Momma?”

“Hm?” She sat up slowly as she woke up.

Lauren glanced at her. “We’re here.”

They got out of the car and began heading into the house. Aaron’s phone started ringing again. Lauren immediately clenched her teeth to fight off negative thoughts, but when he looked like he was going to answer, she grabbed his arm.

Aaron looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to head over to the Mayor’s.”

It was no joke. Lauren needed her car. She spent her own money on that baby, she wasn’t leaving it there.

Aaron’s frown was instant and dark. “What? Why? Why would you go over there?” She opened her mouth to answer, but he spun around. “No, forget it.”

Lauren gaped at him, watching him walk into the house. Scoffing in disbelief she stalked in after him.

“Excuse me? You don’t even know why.”

He went into the kitchen and she followed.

Selena switched on the kitchen light and poured herself a glass of juice, ignoring Aaron and Lauren’s banter.

“I don’t need to. Those people got you once, I won’t let it happen again. Fool me once.”

Lauren facepalmed. “First of all, the mayor and his wife had nothing to do with my kidnapping. That was all Marcus.”

“You can’t be sure.”

“I am, Marcus said so. It’s true that the mayor wanted me dead, but Marcus stole me from under his nose. He was going to use me to get his father to give him the Mayoral seat.”

Aaron frowned. “Why would that even work?”

“Because the Mayor was planning to use you and me to remain on his seat, remember? That was all he had. Kill Burns, frame Spencer and stay Mayor.”

Aaron’s jaw clenched. “That doesn’t mean Marcus isn’t as bad as his parents, he just beat them to it.”

Lauren sighed. “Either way, I need my car. It’s been parked outside the Mayor’s house since I arrived.”

Aaron’s phone rang again. Lauren groaned. “Geez, Stacy is so impatient.”

Aaron smirked. “I know. She must miss me.”

Settling a sharp look on him, Lauren crossed her arms. “That’s not funny. Just so you know, Marcus offered to outdo you in bed, but I, a lady, politely turned him down.”

Aaron laughed out loud and grabbed her to press a loud kiss to her mouth. “It’s not Stacy, babe.” He showed her the screen. Three missed calls. “It’s Grayson.”

“Maybe,” said Selena suddenly. Both of them turned to look at her where she stood against the counter, watching them with amused eyes. “Just maybe if you two could stop being clowns for a minute, you’d hear that there’s someone at the door.”

Selena walked off to her room with a tired “goodnight” as Aaron and Lauren untangled their limbs from each other to go answer the door.

Aaron’s phone buzzed and he glanced down at it.

Grayson: Open the door, I see your car in the drive.

Aaron frowned and glanced at Lauren. “It’s Gray.”

He jogged over to the front door while Lauren stood in the kitchen doorway, watching.

The moment Aaron opened the door, Grayson burst in, breathless.

Lauren’s heart kicked up in a panic. Shit, what happened?

“Gray?” Aaron was saying. “Hey, what’s going on?”

Grayson had collapsed onto a sofa, catching his breath. Lauren hurried over to him.

“What’s wrong, Grayson?”

Gray sat up and frowned at them. “Why don’ y’all ever pick up your phones?! I’ve been callin’ and textin’ like crazy!”

Aaron held up a hand. “Woah, slow down. We just got back from Hutson’s, what’s going on with—”

“Y’all need to leave!”

Aaron and Lauren glanced at each other in confusion. “What?” asked Aaron. “Why?”

Grayson shook his head. “I tried to convince them otherwise, tried to change their minds, but nothing’s worked.”

Lauren crouched beside the sofa. “Gray, what are you talking about?”

Grayson put his hands together. “Natalie. Natalie and Marcus. They’ve turned the town against you two.”

Lauren frowned. “Why the hell would Natalie do that? And... Marcus? When did he reappear? I thought—”

Grayson shook his head. “I don’t know, Lauren, there’s no time! You guys need to go!”

“What did they say to the town, Gray?” Aaron asked. His tone of voice let Grayson know that he wasn’t going anywhere until he got some answers.

Gray sighed. “He got a bunch of photographs. They’re bad, Aaron. Disgusting shit that I wish I never set my eyes on. Dead girls and stuff. They’re tellin’ people that you did it, Aaron. And that Lauren’s in on it.”

Aaron went extremely still.

“What?!” said Lauren. “Where the hell...?” Lauren trailed off as a thought occurred to her. She slowly turned her pale face to look up at Aaron. “Aaron...” At the sound of her whisper, he looked down at her. “Aaron... the photographs. Where did you put them?”

She’d put his fears into words and with a muttered curse, Aaron turned on his heel, disappearing into the dark house.

“Wait, do you guys know about those photos?” Gray asked.

Lauren bit her lip as she stared toward Aaron’s room. “Yes, because we found them.” She sighed and got up to pace around the living room, unable to sit still any longer. “We know who did it, Gray. We were going to use the photographs...” She trailed off and blew out a breath, dragging a hand through her hair. “Shit.”

Grayson sat forward. “You know who did it? Who? Who was it?”

Aaron reappeared. “Lauren, the photos... they’re gone.”

“Fuck.”

Lauren sat weakly on a sofa and stared at the floor.

Aaron’s jaw was clenched so tightly, his teeth ached. He couldn’t believe it. The motherfuckers were trying to pin murders on him. Again.

“I cannot fucking believe this,” Aaron murmured, his voice quiet but trembling from fury. “I can’t believe this.”

“Natalie suddenly appeared at Town’s Hall and disrupted the protest,” said Gray. “She started it. She made everyone believe that Lauren is helping you cover up those murders. She... she told them you guys were sleeping together. I don't know what the hell's wrong with her, Lauren.”

Lauren groaned and put her face in her hands. She looked up at Aaron with eyes full of desperate panic.

“What are we gonna do? Aaron, when we got here tonight, the door, was it open?”

Aaron frowned. “Shit. It had to be, cause momma got in first when I have the keys.”

Grayson leaned forward. “That means someone took them from your house when you were gone. Somebody broke into this place. Shit, Aaron, y’all need to go. The town’s angry.”

Aaron’s jaw clenched. “I ain’t runnin’ away, Grayson.”

Lauren sat up. “What? What do you mean ‘you ain’t running away’? We sure as hell are running away! Let’s leave now even!”

Aaron looked at Lauren and opened his mouth to argue. Suddenly, he stopped.

Lauren frowned. “What—”

Aaron held up a hand. “Shh.”

Lauren grew quiet, watching as Aaron closed his eyes and listened. All Lauren could hear was her racing heart.

“Shit,” whispered Grayson.

Lauren glanced at him. What? What was she missing?

Quietly, Aaron walked over to the window and inched back the curtain.

When he swore, Lauren couldn’t hold herself back. She hurried up behind him and squeezed herself under his arm to see.

“What are you—?”

The words froze in her throat as Lauren stared up the street, right at the beginning of Blaine’s street.

Her eyes grew wider as her panic mounted.

The street was lit up, fire burning brightly from various wooden clubs. She watched as a large mob marched through the night. In their hands were the dark shapes of various weapons, the violence and danger they represented were clear.

Lauren was trembling in fear. “Aaron...”

The mob’s chants were growing louder in the dark night. Lauren couldn’t hear what they were saying, only that it was a cruel threat to her life from the way her heart raced.

Aaron pulled her away from the window as the mob drew up to his house.

“Shit, shit, guys what are we gonna do?!” Grayson was panicking, walking up and down.

“Calm down, it’ll be alright,” said Aaron.

“What—”

The window shattered, the sound piercing through their panic. Lauren screamed as a burning object landed loudly on the living room floor.

She only had one second to register Aaron’s shocked expression.

“Lauren, get down!”