28

28

Lauren gulped through a parched throat, her eyes wide as she stared over Aaron's shoulder.

With arms still wrapped around her, Aaron tensed as he felt the presence heavily weigh a ton behind him. In an instant he had Lauren pushed back into the house as he spun around with his gun held high.

The figure stood in the shadows, only black boots visible in the light of the open door. Its presence came with darkness and a creeping feeling of anxiety that crawled up Aaron's back.

"Take Lauren inside, Gray," murmured Aaron as he narrowed his eyes on the shadowed face. The man stepped forward and Aaron raised his gun higher.

"Come on," Gray said pulling Lauren away as she tried to reach for Aaron.

"One more step," said Aaron, the ice in his tone lethal enough to kill. "One more step and I'll blow your fuckin' head off.

Halting, the man raised his gloved hands and Aaron tightened his grip on the gun. The man was tall, but Aaron was taller. He sized him up and discreetly flexed the muscle in his injured arm, ignoring the pierce of pain.

Even with the injury, if he had to beat this stranger to a pulp on the porch to protect Lauren, he would. Without a second thought.

"Aaron."

Something clicked in Aaron's mind and he frowned at the sound of the voice that reached him through the darkness. The floorboards creaked as the stranger took another step.

"Stop!" Aaron warned, feeling inexplicable panic rise within him. "Stop right there. Who are you?"

The stranger remained silent and Aaron cursed the darkness that covered his face. Before the man could say anything, Aaron heard soft footsteps behind him and tensed from head to toe. The last thing he wanted was for his mother to be exposed to this stranger.

He felt her presence behind him even before she spoke.

"Aaron?" she called softly. "You're home."

"Go inside, mama. Find Grayson and Lauren in my bedroom and stay there."

Selena frowned when she saw the gun held firmly in her son's hand.

"Aaron, what's goin'..."

Selena trailed off into cold silence and Aaron felt her take a step closer to the doorway. Suddenly, her hand touched his shoulder and he felt the tremble running through it.

"Go on inside, mama. Please," pleaded Aaron, never taking his eyes off the man who stood stock still with his hands held up.

Aaron knew something was off. This man knew him and Aaron couldn't explain how. Tension filled him, but it was Selena's breathless gasp that got his heart racing like a startled horse.

"Oh, my God..." she whispered, staring over his shoulder at the figure in the shadows.

Selena shook her head, covering her mouth with a delicate hand as she took another step forward.

"Oh, my God... Rick?"

Aaron froze.

"Richard?" called Selena, walking towards the still man. It wasn't a hallucination again, was it? Was he real? Was he really her Richard?

The silence was thick around Selena's disbelieving gasps until it was broken.

"Lena," said the stranger.

Aaron couldn't help the breath that whooshed out of him when in two steps, the man stepped into the light and revealed his face.

"What..." breathed Aaron as he stared at the face that over the years had faded away in his tortured mind. A face that, to him, had always been better than any superhero advertised on television. His father stood on the porch.

"Rick! It's you!" Selena launched herself against her husband and clutched him tightly as his large arms engulfed her against his body. Her hands touched him everywhere, trying to believe without a doubt that he was real. That he really was her Richard.

"Lena." Richard Spencer held the love of his life tightly against him, wanting to make up for the sadness, regret, and loneliness of the past twenty-five years. "Selena."

Aaron couldn't move. His father. His father who'd died in the storm twenty-five years ago. He was standing right before him.

He watched in cold silence as Richard Spencer pulled away from Selena just to look down into her wide eyes as they stared at each other.

Deadly fury rose so fast within Aaron that he couldn't suppress it as he watched the man... the stranger, slide back into his mother's heart as though he'd never left. Aaron's hand whipped out and wrapped around his mother's wrist and he jerked her back, away from the man whose face was a stranger's.

Selena gasped and Richard took a step forward but stopped when Aaron's gun pointed right between his eyes.

"Aaron, no!" cried Selena, but her son was beyond listening. His eyes blazed gold as he glared coldly into a pair that mirrored his own.

"Aaron," said Richard. "Aaron, let's talk."

"Mmm," said Aaron with a sardonic raise of his brow. "You want to talk? After twenty-five years? What the fuck are you doin' here? Who the fuck are you?!"

"Aaron!" yelled Selena.

"Go inside, mama!" he said, pulling as much anger out of his voice as he could when he addressed her.

"Woah." Aaron glanced over his shoulder and saw Grayson and the shocked expression on his face.

"Take mama in, Gray," he ordered and Grayson quickly advanced to hold a struggling Selena.

"Don' touch her, Grayson Moore!" growled Richard Spencer and Grayson went pale when he saw the man. There was no way a ghost just spoke to him, was there? No way. Richard Spencer was dead, what the hell was going on?!

"Stay out of this!" Aaron warned darkly. "You stopped being the man of this house when you died twenty-five years ago."

"Aaron, I'm sorry. I can explain." Richard looked at the face of his son. His little boy had grown into a real man and he couldn't have held back the pride that filled his chest if he tried.

"I don' wanna hear it," Aaron murmured. The hand that held the gun trembled and he struggled to control it. Aaron dropped his hand on a painful gasp when Selena leaped out of Grayson's arms to bodily protect her husband from her son's dark anger, holding her arms out between Aaron and his father.

"Aaron, stop it now," she whispered as tears streamed down her face and Aaron stared at his mother.

He couldn't believe it. How could she protect him like this?

Without another word, Aaron turned on his heel and walked away into the house.

He threw his bedroom door open with a bang and Lauren bolted from the bed where she'd been sitting stiffly. When she saw him and gun in his hand, she said nothing, only waited until he'd sat on the bed, staring blankly at the space before him.

Lauren swallowed her heart back into her chest and closed the door.

Aaron blinked then and looked up at her.

"Aaron."

Putting the safety on his weapon, he tossed it into the drawer and stood.

"Lauren."

Her hands were trembling and he saw how she pulled nervously at her fingers.

"Aaron, what's going on? I'm scared."

He pulled her against him and wrapped her in his warmth. "I'm sorry, honey. I'm so sorry. Everything’ll be okay, alright? Don' be scared, I'm here now."

Lauren leaned into him, taking it all in. Everything was rather chaotic at the moment and Lauren had too many unanswered questions in her head, but that little moment in his arms. Just that. It gave her enough strength and comfort to battle a million days like this.

She breathed in his scent of pure masculinity and felt her nipples tighten as he kissed below her ear and whispered soothing comfort.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

Lauren couldn't speak so she nodded. Her heart thudded against her ribcage as he held her and all she wanted was for him to put his hands underneath her clothes and touch her like he did that first night, but she couldn't. Not right now.

Reluctantly, she pulled away and leaned back to look up into his eyes, letting her fingers slide up into his thick hair and gently massage his scalp.

"Who was that man?" she asked gently and Aaron's eyes fell closed as she worked his headache away.

He said nothing, only sighed at the feeling of her fingers on his scalp. Aaron wondered vaguely if he should feel guilty for the urgent arousal in his pants. Her body worked him up so quickly, but she'd just escaped a kidnapper. He couldn't do that to her.

"Aaron?" Lauren whispered when he remained silent.

"Mm." He tilted his head back as she stroked his scalp, exposing his neck to her.

"Who's the man, Aaron?" Lauren asked, forcing herself to stop massaging him. He was very hard, she could feel it. His breathing was irregular as his chest expanded against hers. This wasn't the time.

His head righted itself and he opened his eyes. She nearly gasped at the brandy gold his eyes had darkened to but forced herself to focus.

"I don' wanna talk about him, Lauren," he drawled slowly.

Lauren bit her lip, trying and failing to not get plundered by the pheromones he was unleashing upon her.

"But... that man-"

"I don' wanna talk about him, Lauren," Aaron repeated darkly, moving away from her for his sanity's sake.

He pulled off his shirt and opened the wardrobe for another. Lauren's eyes watered when she saw how bandaged his arm had been beneath the shirt sleeves.

"Oh, my God, your arm," she whispered tearfully.

She'd approached him and laid a gentle hand on his arm before she could stop herself. "Aaron, look what he did to your arm!" The tears blinded her, but she still saw that thick white bandage through them, reminding her that he'd gotten shot because of her. Because of her stupidity.

She looked up at him. "I'm really sorry, Aaron. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't mistrusted you. I promise I'll never doubt you again! If I ever-"

He jerked her against his bare chest and silenced her with a hungry kiss. Lauren opened her mouth, letting him feed his hunger.

When he felt her need to get air, Aaron pulled away, knowing that the hunger in her kiss wouldn't let her pull away any time soon. He leaned his forehead against hers as she caught her breath.

"I love you, Aaron."

Lauren bit her lip as soon as the words left her mouth. Aaron stood very still, saying absolutely nothing.

When Aaron remained silent for longer than Lauren was comfortable with, she pulled away.

"Lauren-"

"Aaron, about the man," she cut him off, trying to ignore her pounding heart. He'd said absolutely nothing. Nothing! How could she just blurt her love confession like that? Goddamnit.

Lauren turned away, avoiding his gaze. "We need to talk about him." She turned to face him. "That's the man who saved me from Marcus today."