Chapter 47

(Aaron)

The second I opened the door, my mother’s voice fills the foyer. She asks why we are all here at the penthouse, what made us come here, and if anyone is hurt. All valid questions, and since she fires the questions off in rapid fire, barely taking a breath as she steamrolls her way into the penthouse, I don’t answer her until my father pulls her into the living room and makes her sit down.

“What is going on, Aaron?” my mother pleads for answers.

I look towards the stairs as I see Rylan coming down them from the corner of my eye. I hold a hand out for her to take as she walks down the stairs and to me. Once she is beside me, I pull her against my side and wrap an arm around her waist.

She leans into my side and lays her head against me. I see the look on my mother’s face at this gesture and can practically hear the wedding bells ring in her head. My mother thinks we are here to announce our engagement.

“Rylan and her sister are going to be moving here for their safety.” I tell them as I guide Rylan towards the loveseat.

“What has happened that caused this?” my father asks. There is worry in his tone, but not as frantic as my mother’s.

I glance at Rylan; we speak in that silent way we have, and then she nods. It is her story to tell. I know she said something about it when she was helping to plan Quinn and Annora’s wedding. I never asked what she told my mother, but I know she probably told her everything because my mother has a way of getting the full story out of people, even if they don’t want to.

“I told you about the rapist that attacked me in the past and that he escaped prison during a transfer from county lockup to the prison. He has been on the run this entire time, but he is now back.” Rylan explains to my parents.

“You told me he threatened to kill you if he ever got the chance. Did he try?”

“Not yet, but he knows where I live and was there last night.”

“Oh, Rylan!” my mother coos out as she jumps up from her seat and hurries over to sit next to Rylan. “You will be safe here. Aaron and Quinn have this place locked down so tight that you would think the president lives here or something.”

I snort back a laugh because my mother isn’t wrong, and it is a joke that Mac makes when he goes over our security each month.

My mother pulls Rylan into a hug and then sits back to look at her. She searched her face, then frowns like she could now tell that there is more to explain. “What else happened? Why are you staying here instead of staying at Aaron’s place?”

“Because of me,” Rosalie’s voice comes from behind me.

“I told her that your parents were coming here. I didn’t want to blindside her with unexpected guests. This will be her home now, too, so it was only fair,” Rylan explains.

I get up from where I am sitting next to Rylan so that Rosalie can sit beside her sister. “Dad, will you help me take your luggage to your room? You will have the guest room across from my office down here.” I point towards the hallway by the stairs.

Dad nods his head, then stands up from the sofa. We each carry a suitcase down the hall. Once in the room, I close the door behind us. I need a moment alone with my father.

“Are you ok, son?”

I let out a deep sigh and then sit down on the edge of the bed. “Things have been very stressful over the last few days. There is a lot going on, and I just need some perspective from someone outside of the situation and maybe some advice.”

Dad takes a seat in the chair by the dresser across the room, facing me. “What is going on other than Rylan’s rapist slash stalker?”

I explain to him that there was more than one threat against Rylan and her sister. What Donovan had put Rosalie through during their marriage and what she was running from now. Watch his face go from calm to enraged as I tell him about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband. That man who was supposed to protect her.

“It sounds like you are doing everything that can be done for them both. They are lucky to have you and all your resources to help them. All I ask is that you don’t let their problems consume you.”

“What do you mean? How would it consume me?” I ask, not understanding what he means.

“Aaron, you have this need to protect those you love. It started when you were a kid and first met Quinn. I admire you for that, but I have noticed that sometimes your need to protect others becomes all-consuming. I fear this may impede your PTSD therapy. Don’t put other people’s needs before your own.”

He isn’t wrong about my protective instincts. I tested high for those in the military. It made me a good soldier and team player.

“I will still go to my therapy sessions with Dr. West and my group sessions, too. Rylan needs me, but she won’t let me forget my therapy, either.”

“It is good that she has someone like you in her corner. Your mother will want to help them both, and you know there is no way that you can stop her.”

I nod my head.

“Everything will work itself out in time. Let the police do their jobs to find these two horrible men. You do what you do best and be there for the people you care about in any way that you can. Your mom and I will be here to help as much as we can as well.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“Is there anything else going on? How is work? Is the construction of the Outreach Center coming along?”

We spend the next twenty minutes catching up on the progress of that construction, then he fills me in on everything they did while packing for the temporary move to California. They hired a U-Haul van for all their essential items and clothes that neither can live without for long. The driver they hired should be at my house sometime tomorrow.

“Tell me about this house that you rented for us,” Dad says.

“I bought it outright instead of renting it. It can be used for a vacation home for you two, or I can do short-term rentals for people. Like an Airbnb.” I give him a brief description of the house and all the amenities within. “It is also about a five-minute walk to my place.”

“So close enough to you we are still far enough away to not be right on top of you. That will make your mother happy and give you the privacy that you need as well. We will be here for you if you need us.”

“Thank you, and now that you mention it, I have something to ask of you and Mom.”

Dad frowns at me. “What is it?”

“Dr. West wants to do a group therapy session with the three of us. He wants you both there to get me to open up to you guys about some things I saw and had to do during my career in the military.”

“Are you ready for that?”

I shake my head. “I just wanted to ask if you guys would do that with me when I am ready for that step.”

Dad stands up and then walks across the room, motioning for me to stand up as he does. I do as he requests, and when he reaches me, he pulls me in for a hug. I am stunned into silence, but hug him back.

My father isn’t really a hugger. He loves me, so his not being a hugger has never been an issue for me. I have my mother, and she is a grade-A clinger type hugger. Sometimes I have to step away from her to end the hug.

“Your mother and I will be there when you are ready to tell us anything you need to, Aaron. I got you, my boy.”

I have no idea what it was about what he said, but the tone in his voice broke something loose inside of me. Before I could stop it, I am clinging to my father and crying on his shoulder.

My tears turn into full-on sobbing as I break down with my father’s arms wrapped tightly around me. He whispers in my ear that he has me and isn’t going anywhere. Let it out.

I do, and for the first time since leaving the army, I let all that pain out.

(Rylan)

After Aaron and his father left the room, his mother, Tori, does what most mothers do. She pulls me in for a hug, then takes one look at Rosalie and does the same thing. Rosalie stiffens immediately, but relaxes as Tori just holds her.

We make small talk for a few minutes, then Tori stands up and asks if we were hungry, then leaves the living room and heads straight for the kitchen. I could hear her pulling stuff out of the cabinets as she called out what she planned to cook for us.

Rosalie and I share a look that conveys so much with nothing said at all. This is not the motherly love that we are used to, and if I am honest with myself, it freaks me out a little. Only because it is the behavior that I have always wanted from my mother.

For the rest of the evening, Tori hovers over my sister in ways that she is not used to, and Rosalie accepts it all with surprising calm. I like Tori; she can give my sister something that I can’t, a mother’s guidance. From the moment I met her, I could tell where Aaron got his protective instincts.

Tori Carter is amazing, and I am happy that she is here now.

Later, after everyone has gone up to their rooms, I let Aaron lead me up to his room on the third floor. His penthouse is set up just like Quinn’s, but it is decorated differently. When we walk into the bedroom, I am not surprised to see that my suitcase is already here and open on a small chair next to the closet door.

“When did you move my stuff?” I ask as I walk towards my suitcase.

“While you and Rosalie were helping my mom clean up after dinner. There is no way that I am sleeping in the guest room, and I sleep where you sleep.” He tells me as he comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me.

I lean back against him and just let him hold me like that for a few minutes. After a while, he slowly turns me around and places a soft kiss on my lips, then cups my face in his hands. My love for this man grows stronger by the day, and he is being so gentle with me that I want to cry.

“I don’t deserve a man like you,” I whisper.

“That is some bullshit right there, babe. You deserve to be loved, protected, even though you can fight your own battles, and worshiped like the badass goddess that you are.”

I snort back a laugh, and he grins at me.

“Too much with the goddess part?”

I hold my thumb and pointer finger up with a small gap between them to show that maybe it was a bit too much. He laughs, then releases me from his arms. We go about getting ready for bed like a couple that has been together for years instead of the short time we have.

We have always fit together so naturally, even when he was doing his best to push me away. For the first time today, I feel relaxed. There is no fear for my sister clogging my throat. No worries eating in my mind over what I can do to help her through this nightmare.

Right here in the quiet of Aaron’s bedroom, I am relaxed.

I know Aaron has questions about what happened while Annie was here, but thankfully, he isn’t asking them for now. I will tell him about what she decided to do about the pregnancy tomorrow. For now, all I want is to snuggle with him and let the events of the last few days fade away as he holds me.

Once we are both comfortable in his massive bed, a thought occurs to me, and I jump up like I have been burned. How many women has he had in that bed? There is no way that I am sleeping in that bed of whores.

“What? What is wrong, babe?”

“I can’t sleep in that bed where you have had, who knows how many hookups.”

The worried expression on his face instantly fades and is replaced by anger and frustration. “So, my past rears its ugly head again. Making assumptions about what happened doesn’t help. If you have questions, just ask them, but don’t assume something that never happened.”

I jerk back in surprise. “What are you talking about? Of course, you had women in here.”

He shakes his head no. “Not once. This penthouse was my sanctuary, and none of my hookups, as you called them, were ever done here.”

Now I feel ashamed of myself for jumping to conclusions. That saying about assuming makes an ass out of you is pretty apt right now. Ugh, why am I such a jealous shrew when it comes to this man?

“Look, we both know I had a raunchy past full of one woman after another. That was a horrible coping mechanism, and I know that now. Can we just agree to let my past stay where it belongs? In the damn past?”

The defeated look in his eyes makes my heart hurt because of what I just did to him. I nod my head, then I get back in bed beside him. When he rolls over and gives me his back, I feel like an asshole.

I scoot close to him so I can wrap my arm around his waist from behind, then press my hand over his heart and my cheek to his back. “I am sorry, Aaron.”

“It sucks when you throw that shit in my face,” he whispers.

“I know, and I am sorry. I will try to keep my inner jealous bitch on a leash from now on.”

I feel him laugh.

“I love you, Rylan. Only you.”

“I love you too, Aaron. Always you.”