20

20

Lauren stood in the hallway, watching as Aaron kissed Selena’s cheek and threw his backpack over his shoulder. Was she crazy? She was staying in Aaron Spencer’s house. She’d made love to Aaron Spencer. Lauren bit her lip.

What the hell had her life become? Did she really want him that much? Shit.

She sighed and shook her head. Her focus had to remain on the matters at hand, she couldn’t get distracted.

“Be safe,” Selena called as he walked away from the living room.

Aaron edged past Lauren and reached for the door handle. He opened it and turned to face her.

“You’re going to be alright. I won’t be gone all night,” he told her, but the unease didn’t leave her eyes, nor did the tension ease from her shoulders.

Lauren sighed and nodded. She couldn’t believe how much his leaving the house was sending her into a panic. The mayor’s family didn’t know where she was, but still, the fear persisted.

“How far away is Grayson?” she asked, hoping he’d arrive before Aaron left. She might not feel as completely safe with Grayson as she did with Aaron, but at least she and Selena wouldn’t be alone.

Aaron glanced around outside and nodded at the street. “Here he comes now.”

She swallowed and before he could say anything, wrapped her arms around him, drawing in his warmth and comfort as well as that scent of wild honey and wood that clung to him. Aaron slowly wrapped his arms around Lauren, tightening them when he felt her tremble. She was scared and the fear he saw in her eyes pissed him the hell off.

He drew back and lifted her face to look at him. “Listen, I’ll be home by seven pm, alright? You’re safe here, I promise.”

Lauren nodded and let her hands fall away from his body as Grayson came up the porch.

“Headin’ to work?” he asked.

Aaron nodded with a grimace. “I’ll make sure I take a few offs. I’ve got things I need to do.”

“We,” said Lauren stubbornly. “We’ve got things we need to do.”

He gave her a look. “I’ll handle everything. This is all too dangerous for you to be involved, Lauren.”

She opened her mouth to talk, but Aaron darted forward, pressing his lips to hers for a quick, hard kiss, effectively silencing her.

“See y’all later,” he called and walked away without further discussion.

She blinked after him as Grayson grinned at her dazed state.

“Well…” he said. “I can’t say I’m not pleased with how you two turned out.”

Lauren forced a scoff and sounded like she was breathing her last desperate breath.

“Please, we’re...there’s...We’re still enemies, okay!” she told Grayson as she went back into the house. He followed her in and closed the door, locking it.

Lauren walked quickly into the house where she curled up on the sofa and laid her head on Selena’s lap to avoid any embarrassing questions from Gray about Aaron kissing her.

She had definitely not expected it and it knocked all the breath out of her when she felt his lips against hers like that. So hot and hard.

Lauren pulled the brake on her thoughts when she remembered that her head was resting on his mother’s lap, for heaven’s sake.

Lauren heard Selena coo as though to a baby when Grayson walked into the room.

He grinned widely and Lauren saw the love he had for Aaron’s mother clear in his eyes.

“How you doin’, Momma?” he asked as he took her outstretched hand and held it between both of his.

“Don’t act like you care, you bad child, you don’t visit me anymore!” she complained.

Gray winced and kissed her hand. “I’m sorry, I’m an ass. I promise to be by more often. Like today.”

Selena smiled with delight and squeezed his hand once before gently letting it go. “You better. Now sit down, dearie and tell me what you’ve been up to.”

Gray sat on the single sofa and they delved into many little stories that had Grayson embarrassed and Lauren rolling on the floor with laughter.

However, it was four hours and a few snacks later, halfway through a story Selena was telling with Lauren eager to laugh and Grayson wanting to die, that she slowly began to lose the storyline. Lauren frowned slightly and realized that Selena had suddenly gone from talking about Grayson getting caught with a girl by Aaron to saying Aaron had to bring the washing in cause it was raining.

Grayson was quicker to realize that Selena had lost herself again and when she became restless about where Aaron was, he was ready and knelt by her side, assuring her that he’d just gone out for a moment and he’d be back.

Lauren was seated on the floor, knees drawn up against her chest, watching in sad disbelief. She’d been okay. The whole day, Selena was fine and then suddenly…

She swallowed hard as she watched Selena look frantically at the clock.

“No, I want Aaron home now!” she cried and Grayson held her hands, gently soothing her with reassuring words. “It’s late! They’ll try and hurt him! Go find me my Aaron, Gray!”

Her cheeks grew wet from tears and Grayson wiped them away, hushing her.

Lauren quickly got off the floor and hurried to fetch Selena’s medication. Aaron had said when she became really upset, it was because she was tired and sleepy and that was when her memory became most faded.

With shaking hands, Lauren handed Grayson the glass and crouched before Selena with the pills.

Selena took one look at it and turned her nose up. “No! I won’t take ‘em! I want my Aaron.”

Lauren put a gentle hand over hers.

“But remember the pancakes tomorrow morning, Mrs. Spencer?”

Selena looked at Lauren, wary.

“Pancakes?”

“Yeah. Aaron promised to make you pancakes for breakfast tomorrow if you’ll just take these tiny pills.”

Selena looked unsure, but the promise of good pancakes greatly outweighed her uncertainty.

“Okay,” she mumbled and picked the small pills off Lauren’s palm and tossed them back, taking the glass Grayson offered her and taking a few sips.

When she handed the glass back, Lauren saw the actual fatigue in Selena’s eyes and sighed.

“We’ve worn you out, you poor darling,” she said gently, helping Selena out of her chair and leading her to her room. “Let’s put you to bed. When you wake up, I promise Aaron’s going to be home.”

Selena hummed tiredly. “My Aaron.”

“Yes,” said Lauren, nodding sadly. “Your Aaron.”

She put Aaron’s mother to sleep, tucking her warmly in and checking to make sure her windows were closed before she left the room.

Lauren found Grayson slouched on the sofa, going through his phone.

She sighed as she curled up on the other sofa. “I hate seeing her like that.”

Gray nodded. “Sure does suck. She’s an amazing human being with such a good heart. She deserves better.”

Silence stretched for a few moments as they were both occupied with their own thoughts.

“What caused it?” Lauren asked, breaking the silence.

Gray looked at her. “What? Momma’s…?”

Lauren nodded, feeling her heart warm every time Gray called Selena mom or momma. He was so lucky. He had two moms since he saw Aaron’s mother as his too.

He sighed and sat up. “Aaron never really told me, but I always knew it was from the hurt. The pain of everything she’s been through. Losing Aaron’s dad and then just a few years after that, her son is charged with murder and taken through a whole string of grueling trials. And then getting cut off from the town. I think it was all too much for her and it began to affect her this way.”

Lauren bit her bottom lip against the sadness in her heart. “I can’t imagine the pain she must have felt.”

Gray nodded. “Yeah.”

The silence stretched again and Lauren started to wonder what it was like during those trials.

“Grayson?”

He looked up. “Hm?”

“Tell me something. What was the proof...or the reason why the court charged Aaron with murder? Was it simply because they saw him leaving our house that night?”

Looking a little uneasy, Gray shifted in his seat but turned to face Lauren either way.

“Well, it wasn’ just that. Remember that Abigail Burns, who was…”

“My aunt.”

“Yeah. She gave that statement to the council saying that she saw Aaron with her own eyes when he stood there over the Reverend’s body, right? She was the one who raised the entire town against him and gave him the title of a murderer.”

Lauren swallowed. “Oh. I knew she saw it, but I didn’t know... I didn’t know that Aunt Abby gave a statement. She never told me that. But…but what was Aaron doing there in the first place? I believe that he didn’t kill pops and mama, but...he obviously knows who did. He let the killer get away that night and Aunt Abby caught him instead.”

Gray shrugged. “I thought of that too, but I still don’t know. It makes no sense that he would do that.”

“Exactly. Also, with Aunt Abby’s statement that she saw him, the town council at that time would have sent Aaron to prison in accordance with their laws. So...how did they let him go free?”

Grayson sighed and shook his head. “You know, Aaron never said one word throughout the entire trial. He never denied nor accepted the accusations. Also, the...the bodies...they were never found. He’d cleaned up the scene... and with no word from the accused and no bodies to back up the crime, the case dragged on. Then...your Aunt suddenly retracted her statement from the court and said she wanted nothing to do with the case. That was the last thing holding the trial together, after that, they had no choice, but to let Aaron go. That was when Abigail Burns took you away from Woodfair.”

Lauren listened attentively, fighting to clear the confusion in her head. “That’s something else I don’t understand.” She sighed in frustration. “I wish Aaron would just open up and talk because I mean, he literally hit Aunt Abby over the head when she walked in on him! And he knocked her out. Then when she woke up, he was gone with both pops and mama. Yet, he’s innocent? Does that make sense to you, Gray?”

Grayson shrugged helplessly and leaned his head back against the sofa.

“Also, he was seen leaving the house with a large suitcase. Blood on his clothes.” She continued. “And come to think of it, who saw him?”

“Mrs. Preston,” said Gray, looking glum. “She was the neighborhood busy body at that time. She’s dead now.”

Lauren scowled. “Damn. I could have gotten some information out of her.”

“I doubt it, seeing as she would have been a hundred and ten years old,” answered Gray with a raised eyebrow.

Lauren shook her head with a heavy sigh. “None of this makes sense, Grayson. Could Aaron have... could he have gotten rid of the bodies to protect the true murder? Because, if there’s one thing I feel, it’s that Aaron Spencer did not kill my family.”

Gray tilted his head at her with a little sigh of relief. “I can’t tell you how glad it makes me to hear you say that. As for what happened on that night, I honestly have no idea, Lauren.”

She sighed and leaned into the sofa, glancing up at the clock. There were about thirty minutes before Aaron got home. She wished he’d get home at that very moment. She just wanted for him to clear all this up, it all made no sense. Also... she missed him.

“Whatever happened in the past, Lauren,” said Grayson quietly. “We’ll soon learn about all of it. The truth’s gonna come out soon and the real monsters are gonna pay for what they did to both your family and Aaron.”

She nodded, fully agreeing with him. “You’re right. And it’s our job to make that happen.”

He gave a short sharp nod. “Damn right. We’ll follow Aaron’s lead since we’re working in the dark and he knows the real truth. But no matter what, don’t ever try to force it out of him, he’ll clamp up faster than a damn oyster.”

Lauren nodded, remembering just how forcing the truth out of Aaron worked for her in the beginning. No, this time around, they were going to have to work together.

They had to expose the evil.

She sighed. “He’s taking forever fighting fires and whatnot.”

Gray chuckled. “He’ll be home soon. The Jag is fast.”

Lauren’s brows lifted. “He has a Jag?”

“Yup,” said Grayson. “Aaron owns three cars and two houses. He’s got that Ford truck, the Jag and a flashier Merc sports car that he’d usually drive to meetings at the Firm. But he keeps that in Malbourg.”

Lauren’s eyes grew so wide Grayson started laughing.

“What?!” she said in disbelief.

Gray nodded. “When his father passed away, a man came to see Aaron. He said he was Aaron’s dad’s lawyer and he had to give Aaron his inheritance. He’s the same lawyer who defended Aaron throughout the trial, by the way. So he gave Aaron a lump of money and a house, which Aaron eventually sold and then bought shares in the lawyer’s Law Firm. Super successful. Now he owns this house and one he’s bought in Malbourg. He’s moneyed, our Aaron.”

Lauren could only stare. Aaron was rich? “How moneyed is he?”

Gray shrugged. “As moneyed as that old lawyer now. Maybe a couple of millions.”

Lauren gasped.

Gray smiled and nodded.

“Woah,” said Lauren. “Big woah.”

Grayson pushed himself up. “Be right back.”

She nodded as he went off to the bathroom.

After about a minute of her forcing herself to stop wondering whether Aaron took women to his house in Malbourg, Lauren heard a knock on the door. Startled, she jerked back, staring wide-eyed towards the front door.

Quiet as a mouse, Lauren got up and inched towards the front door. Who the hell was it? Was it the mayor? Had he found her?

Lauren was right behind the door now, staring at it as if it would grow teeth and bite her.

“Aaron Spencer?” called a feminine voice quietly from outside. “I can hear you behind the door.”

Lauren frowned.

She knew that voice.

Natalie. What the hell was she doing here?

Without thinking about it, Lauren pulled open the door.

Natalie’s charming smile froze on her face. “Oh.” She frowned. “Lauren. What are you doing here?”

Lauren frowned right back at her. “What are you doing here, Natalie? I didn’t know you know Aaron.”

Natalie’s mouth opened and closed silently before she suddenly chuckled. “Uhm... I don’t. I was just lookin’ for you, honey. Mrs. Stanford called. She was worried. I thought Aaron hurt you, so I came on over here to question him.”

Lauren’s eyes trailed down Natalie’s short dress, eyeing the cleavage over the low neckline and the red lipstick that stained her plump lips.

“Is that right?” asked Lauren skeptically.

“Yeah,” said Natalie. “Well, you seem alright. I’m... I’m on my way to a date. I have a date.”

“Hey, don’t tell Martha that I’m here. Please.”

Natalie nodded slowly. “I’d ask why, but... you know. He’s the guy who killed your mother and everythin’... it’s obvious, I wouldn’ tell nobody either. I won’t tell, you can trust me.” She chuckled again and Lauren watched her walk away with a little wave, her butt swaying provocatively.

When Natalie was gone, Lauren closed the door, making sure to lock it. A frown tugged her brows together.

That girl gave her a bad feeling. What on earth was she doing here?

“Lauren?”

Grayson’s voice called her out of her thoughts and Lauren headed back to the living room.

“Hey.”

Gray glanced at the door. “Someone at the door?” he asked, lowering his voice.

Lauren shook her head. “Nah. Just thought I heard something.

Gray raised a brow. “You hear somethin’, you tell me, alright? Don’ go off on your own.”

With a nervous chuckle, she nodded and plumped down onto the sofa, her mind full of questions.