21

21

Lauren and Grayson were discussing television shows and for the first time, Lauren realized just how sheltered her aunt had kept her.

Grayson didn’t hide his shock. “You don’t know the Kardashians?!” he asked with wide eyes. “Samantha would cry if she heard this.”

Lauren wrapped spaghetti around her fork and shrugged defensively. “I never… watched all these things that you’re talking about. I spent my time with books and chores.”

He looked sadly at her. “That’s awful!”

Lauren laughed. “Not really, you’re being dramatic.”

Gray imagined a life with only books and chores and closed his eyes on a horrified shudder.

Lauren rolled her eyes at him just as they heard a chingling of keys from the door.

Immediately, she set her food aside but stopped when Grayson held up his hand, telling her to stay put.

When his hand disappeared behind his back and reappeared with a gun in it, Lauren nearly sputtered from shock. She leaned back into the sofa, eyes focused on that gun. He got up and edged slowly to the door and she shook her head at him. It was probably just Aaron, Lauren knew this.

Still, she reached for a porcelain bowl sitting on the table and slowly crept behind Grayson. Just in case it wasn’t Aaron.

They inched towards the door, Gray completely unaware that Lauren was behind him, armed with a bowl and ready to bash any intruder in.

The door swung open and Aaron walked in, carrying grocery bags. His eyes took in Grayson with his gun, ready to shoot and he nodded, glad Gray had followed his orders. Then his gaze went on to Lauren, who was behind Grayson, a white bowl lifted high above her head, ready to strike.

He lifted a brow at the pair of them.

“You two the new Batman and Robin or what?” Aaron asked in mild amusement as he pushed the door closed behind him.

Grayson looked confused for a split second until he caught sight of Lauren cradling the bowl behind him.

“I told you to stay put, Lauren!” he complained.

She winced and nodded. “Yeah, I know, I know. But did you expect me to just let you go out there to face danger with nothing but a measly little gun as protection?”

Grayson scoffed, tucking away his weapon. “Well, I must say, guns have been known to be far more effective than flower pots!”

Aaron sighed heavily and pushed past them. Lauren’s eyes followed him before she leaned in toward Grayson.

“Hey, Gray?” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Who’s Batman and Robin?”

Grayson stared at her blankly for a second then exploded with laughter.

“Are… are you kidding me?”

Lauren raised her chin and gave him a dangerous side-eye before walking away from his laughter to find Aaron.

She found him in the kitchen putting away the last of the groceries. His shoulders drooped a little, his blond hair was all fussed up from his fingers running through and his mouth had tired lines at the corners.

A feeling of sympathy swept through her. He looked so tired and she couldn’t even do as little as put the groceries away for him.

“I wish I’d put the groceries away at least. You look tired.”

He glanced up at her as he folded up the brown paper bags and slowly shook his head.

“Don’t you worry, Lauren,” Aaron said, taking in her fidgeting fingers and the way she nervously bit the inside of her cheek. He wondered if she was as tortured by images and thoughts of him as he’d been by her all day. Probably not, he thought.

“Mrs. Spencer wants to see you,” she said quietly as Grayson came into the room. “She was worried about your being out earlier.”

Aaron frowned and leaned against the back of a chair, his black t-shirt stretching over his shoulders. “Did she…?”

Grayson nodded. “Yeah. Around three-thirty pm. She was tired.”

“We gave her her medication and put her in bed. We’d just eaten so she wasn’t hungry, but I’ll wake her soon for dinner,” Lauren said and Aaron swallowed and rubbed his chest where he always felt pain when he thought of his mother’s condition.

“Thank you,” he said and Grayson shook his head.

“Nah, man. She’s like a mother to me too.”

Aaron didn’t let the warmth he felt at that statement show on his face. He glanced at Lauren and she gave him a small smile and a nod.

With a tired smile, he put his hands into his uniform pants pockets.

“What did you guys spend the day doing?” Aaron asked, sounding like he was making innocent conversation. Deep down, he knew that he just wanted to be sure that Grayson and Lauren weren’t closer than he thought. He didn’t know what he’d do if they were. But… they couldn’t be. It was him that Lauren wanted.

Grayson shrugged at the question and threw open a cupboard that Aaron had just stocked full of snacks.

Grabbing a big bag of chips, he sat at the table and Aaron shook his head fondly. Grayson was like the little brother he never had.

“Finish all those snacks and you’re restocking,” he told Gray who only grinned into the bag of chips.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we spent the whole day talking about anything and everything.”

Lauren hummed in agreement, coming onto Aaron’s side of the table. She eyed him. He eyed her back. Fancy Mr. Millionaire Pants, was he? Lauren still couldn’t believe it.

She cleared her throat. “Yeah. Mrs. Spencer told us a lot of stories. Most of them featuring Grayson in his embarrassing teenage days.”

Aaron’s mouth tilted into a crooked grin when Gray groaned in annoyance around a mouth full of potato chips.

“With girls?” Aaron asked and Lauren laughed nodding.

Gray glared at both of them as he got up.

“Haha, very funny. I’m leavin’ now, okay?” He lifted the bag of chips. “And I’m takin’ these with me.”

Aaron shook his head tiredly as Gray walked away.

“Take the keys to the Ford from the rack, don’t walk home,” he told Grayson.

“Thanks!” called Gray as he grabbed the keys and headed out.

The door closed and the room was flooded in silence.

Lauren turned to him.

“You’re tired,” she murmured in sympathy and he nodded, looking at her with drooping eyes. Lauren’s heart tugged.

He looked like an adorable puppy with big gold eyes and thick lashes. Shit, she was getting in too deep. “Uhm... okay, you go take a hot shower and I’ll give Selena her dinner in bed and have yours waiting when you get out.”

She put her hands on his big shoulders, trying to steer him out of the kitchen, but he easily caught her wrists and pulled her against him.

Lauren bit back the yelp that wanted to escape at the sudden contact with his body.

Aaron sighed in contentment, wrapping his arms around her. He settled his head into the warm curve of her neck and Lauren laid a gentle hand against his cheek, her stomach doing somersaults at the feeling of his body against hers.

His lips flitted over her cheek in a gentle caress and a sigh escaped her before she could stop it.

He leaned back and looked down into her eyes, letting his mouth curve.

“You’re taking care of me and my mother,” he murmured. “Thank you.”

Lauren gulped, her mind consumed by the very knowledge that she was wrapped up and tucked against his chest like a treasured gift. She nodded slowly, staring into his eyes, letting herself become mesmerized by the swirls of gold and brown that she saw around his iris.

Slowly and painfully, Aaron eased away from her.

“I’ll go and… take that shower,” he said quietly and Lauren bit her lip and nodded.

He left the kitchen as quickly as he could, grateful that he’d left before it became impossible for him to let go off her.

With a deep breath to compose himself, Aaron walked into Selena’s room where he found her sitting up against the pillows, knitting away.

She concentrated on her rapidly moving needles, startled when he called to her.

“Aaron.”

A please smile curved her mouth when he approached and laid a kiss on her head and then her hands.

“How are you, ma?”

She shrugged. “Alright. Grayson was here. And your other friend, Catherine. They sat with me.”

Aaron froze but didn’t let the unease show on his face.

Oh, no. His mother was starting to confuse Lauren with her mother, Catherine. If she still had this thought in her mind when Lauren brought in her dinner, Selena could easily call Lauren Catherine and Lauren would immediately know that her mother had once been in Aaron’s house. He couldn’t let her find out about that. Not yet. It would complicate things.

He gently shook his head. “That wasn’t Cathy, mom. That was Lauren. Remember Lauren?”

Selena’s smile dimmed a little and confusion entered her blue eyes.

“Lauren?”

“Yeah. We had pancakes this morning at breakfast, remember?”

The mist cleared and Selena nodded with a laugh. “Of course!” she breathed, sounding relieved. “Of course, Lauren. How is she?”

Just then the door opened and Lauren entered, carrying a well-stocked tray.

“Lauren!” said Selena and Aaron breathed in relief.

Lauren smiled broadly, feeling her heart warm so much, she suspected it was really probably heartburn.

“Hello, Mrs. Spencer! You’re awake. It’s time for dinner. Grayson and I made spaghetti and meatballs in sauce.”

Selena lifted her brows in appreciation. “How lovely, dear. You know Grayson then?”

Lauren paused, but she was getting used to Selena sometimes forgetting recent events. “Oh, yes. He’s my friend too,” she said, glancing at Aaron as she set the tray on the little bed table Aaron had set over Selena’s thighs. “He was here earlier, you told us stories, remember?”

Selena nodded, remembering. “Oh, yes, oh yes.”

Aaron pushed back a strand of his mother’s golden blond hair.

“I’m gonna go shower, mom. You have your dinner and please don’t fuss about takin’ the medication.”

He kissed her cheek and rose to leave, hoping his mother would continue remembering that the woman before her was Lauren and not Catherine.

Lauren watched him leave before she sat in the chair he’d left vacant at Selena’s bedside and uncovered the food.

Taking a good whiff of the air, Selena grinned at Lauren. “Smells absolutely delightful! I’d think you used my very own recipe if I didn’t know it was buried safely with my momma.”

Lauren chuckled and shook her head as she handed Selena a fork.

“Don’t you worry, this one’s from a cookbook.”

Lauren leaned back in the chair as Selena began eating, sharing conversation with her.

While slicing a meatball in half with her knife, Selena slid Lauren a wink.

“So you like ‘im?” she asked.

Lauren gaped then laughed. “Uhm, who?”

Selena waved a hand. “Don’t you bother with lyin’ to me, darlin’. I was the champion of girly crushes before Aaron’s father came along, I can see one from miles away.”

Lauren fought a grin. “I do not have a girly crush on Aaron, Selena,” she defended, brushing invisible dust off her arm.

“You just want him then?”

Lauren coughed, clearing her suddenly clogged throat as she eyed Selena’s wicked grin through teary eyes.

“I… I can’t...” she sputtered. “Don’t say such things!”

Selena threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, dearie. That pink on your cheeks looks hot enough to burn, it does! It’s alright to want a man, honey. Especially one as handsome as my son.”

Lauren gulped and squirmed in her seat. “Am I that obvious?”

“Well, no, but I have an eye for these things, that’s why I see ‘em.”

Sighing, Lauren shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing’s going to happen between us.”

Again.

Selena frowned, lifting food to her mouth. “Whah not?” she asked, a hand covering her full mouth.

Lauren’s mouth pursed as the reasons flowed into her head.

I accused him a million times of killing my mother and pops. Everyone thinks he’s a murderer. He knows secrets that scare me to think of. I’m still not sure whether he had a hand in the disappearance of the bodies. We had sex earlier this morning, before which I’m pretty sure he heard me having a naughty dream starring him.

“A number of reasons,” she said simply to Selena who shook her head.

“Y’all think too much. Sometimes you just gotta let things happen as they do, otherwise, you could lose out on many things in life that are just… meant to be yours.”

The words made Lauren nod and reason. Maybe Selena was right. Was it a coincidence that she’d met Aaron on that road that day? And that he’d affected her so strongly just the first time he touched her hand?

Lauren shrugged. She really didn’t know.

Selena grew quiet then and ate her food.

Lauren glanced at her left, reminding herself to get Aaron a plate of food before he came out of the shower.

A bright color caught her eyes and Lauren lifted the pink wool Selena had been knitting.

It was an adorable little sweater.

“This is so beautiful, Mrs. Spencer,” Lauren said with a smile.

Selena glanced up, a hazy look in her blue eyes, but she smiled.

“You like it?”

Lauren nodded. “Yes, it’s lovely.”

“That’s good, dear, I made it for your little girl.”

A slow frown creased Lauren’s forehead. Her little girl?

“Uhm, what? My… little girl?”

Selena nodded with a smile. “Of course, Catherine, honey. How old is your Lauren again, four?”