Chapter 55

(Aaron)

After leaving West’s office, I drove aimlessly for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was only long enough for me to reach the construction site. Why I drove there of all places, I have no idea. No, I know why.

It was the one place I knew my parents wouldn’t think to look for me

.

I need to be as far away from them as possible right now. Mainly my mother. I was in shock that she said what she did.

I blame myself enough for what happened that day.

Now, my mother does too.

That was not the way I expected that meeting to go. Well, if I am truly honest with myself, I expected the worst potential outcome. As it turns out, I got it.

From my mother.

The second I stepped into the trailer, all the pent-up emotion I had been repressing during the drive here broke loose like a tidal wave. Rage, fear, and an unbelievable amount of sadness wash through me, one after the other until I am a sobbing mess on the floor.

I have no clue how long I lay there curled in a ball and sobbing my heart out. Arms slipping around my waist from behind me pull me out of my head long enough to realize who found me first. Relief fills me. It was her first and not Quinn.

I love my brother beyond words, but I can’t handle seeing him yet.

Rylan is who I need now, and thank fuck she came.

“Don’t let go,” I whisper in a broken voice.

“I got you, Aaron. Take all the time you need.”

Those simple words are all I needed, and it seems to have helped. The loudness in my head dims to a bearable level. I can think again for the first time since walking out on my parents.

“My mother blames me for the death of that woman and her child. I don’t know what I expected out of that meeting, but …” I break off as emotion clogs my throat.

I feel Rylan stiffen behind me as my words sink in. She says nothing but continues to run a hand up and down my chest. The silence in the room is almost deafening with the weight of what I just said.

“I don’t think I can face her again after that. At least not anytime soon. If I thought I was broken before that, her words broke me more.”

Rolling over onto my other side, I bury my face in Rylan’s neck. Both of her arms wrap around my waist, and she strokes my back soothingly. We lay like that for what feels like hours.

Silent.

Waiting.

For what, I have no idea.

The buzzing of a cellphone breaks the silence. Rylan swears and pulls away. She reached an arm behind her and then pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She sighs heavily when she sees whoever it is calling.

“It is your mother again.” She tells me with irritation all over her face.

“Again?”

“Yes, she called me earlier. That is how I knew I needed to look for you. She was sobbing and then hung up when I told her I didn’t know where you were.”

“Sobbing, huh? Why the fuck is she upset?” I pull away from Rylan fully and then stand up off the floor. Anger is now riding me like a storm ready to break loose.

Rylan sits up and then declines the call. She stands up off the floor and then shoves her phone back into her back pocket. “Maybe she regrets what she said?”

I scoff and then walk to the doorway that leads back into the main room of the trailer. I look back over my shoulder at Rylan. Her eyes are filled with worry as she looks at me. It is then that I realized that I can’t be here with her right now.

I need to be somewhere no one knows me. Somewhere that I won’t receive those worried or pitying looks. I need to leave everything and everyone I have ever known behind and just go away. They would all be better off without me, anyway.

Wouldn’t they?

“Whatever you are thinking right now, stop.” Rylan says as she closes the distance between us. “I know you and how you think, Aaron.”

“Why are you even here?” I ask in a dull tone. “Why do you love me when I am so obviously broken?”

“Oh, baby, that answer should be clear to you by now. But, since it doesn’t appear that you have gotten the picture yet, I will explain it. Come with me first.”

She holds her hand out for me, and despite the raging storm in my mind and soul, I take it and let her lead me through the trailer and outside to her car. I get into the passenger seat without a word and then close my eyes as she backs out of the parking lot. I have no idea where we are going, but I have faith in Rylan, and that is enough for me right now.

I must have fallen asleep because when I wake up, the car is no longer moving, and I am alone. I glance around to see where she took us and then laugh. Rylan drove us to the marina.

I look around to see if I can spot where she is, but I don’t spot her, so I open the passenger door and climb out of the car. I lean against the car, then I close my eyes and raise my head up to the sun. Being outside is a good idea.

“Well, hello there, handsome,” a husky voice says from next to me.

I open my eyes and look to my left, where the unknown voice came from. A petite blonde is standing on the sidewalk, staring at me. She is wearing one of those mesh bathing suit covers over a barely legal red bikini. She is giving me those ‘fuck me’ eyes, and I feel nothing at all.

Huh.

That is new.

Normally, I would feel either mildly attracted to someone like her or even slightly aroused. However, neither of those is happening, and it feels a little odd. Odd in a good way, I think.

“Are you going out on a boat today?” She asks as she takes a step closer to me.

“I have no idea what I am doing here.”

“You can come with me and my friends out on my boat. We would love to have you.” She closes the distance until she is a step away from me.

“Oh really? You don’t even know me. Why would you invite a random stranger out on your boat?”

I look at her again now that she is closer, and she can’t be any older than twenty. So young and naïve of the dangers in the world. In the past, I was one of those dangers. I would have taken her up on her offer without hesitation and would have enjoyed everything she and her friends offered.

Now, I suddenly feel hollow.

That past me was a playboy who used women for sex and then dropped them like hot rocks as soon as the deed was done. I was a douche. Someone that the new me wouldn’t hesitate to punch in the face for disrespecting women the way I did.

When did that change happen?

“Yes, we are going out on a boat.” Rylan says as she steps up to my right side.

Ah, that was when that change happened. When I finally gave in to this woman. She made me want to be a better man.

I slide my arm around her waist and then pull her close to my side. “Oh, babe, are you sure you don’t want to join this young lady and her friends?”

Rylan smirks at me but stares daggers at the blonde. “Oh, my love, I have a much better plan in mind.”

The blonde scampers away without another word, leaving me alone with my beautiful girlfriend.

“I leave you alone for five minutes, and they flock to you like flies. The sex appeal is understandable. Now, let’s get going.” She pulls away from me and then grabs my hand.

After locking the car, she pulls me towards the marina.

“Wait,” I stop walking.

“What?” She stops walking and turns to face me.

“Did you really rent a boat so we can go sailing?”

She shakes her head. “No, I called my brother and asked him if we could take his little cruiser out for a few hours. He keeps it stocked with food, water, and other essentials. So, we are going out on the water for a few hours of alone time.”

“Andrew has a freaking mini yacht?”

“Yup. Our father helped him buy it a few years ago. Do you know how to drive one?”

“Hell yeah, I do.”

Suddenly all the drama of the day gives way to excitement. I love being out on the open ocean. I have been toying with the idea of buying a yacht for the last few years. Now I may just have to buy one, sooner rather than later.

An hour later, we are out in the open ocean with the anchor dropped. I am up on deck while Rylan is doing something down below. She kicked me out shortly after we dropped anchor.

I am not a fan of surprises or secrets, but I am letting her do her thing while I sit on a padded bench and watch the vast open sea beyond the yacht. This is exactly what I needed after what happened earlier today. Nothing around us for miles, the only sounds coming from the ocean and sky.

It is perfect.

The sun is setting, and I feel a sense of peace that I haven’t felt in a long time. As the setting sun paints the sky in beautiful pinks and soft purples, I relax back on the bench to take it all in. I haven’t watched the sunset in a while.

I need to take more time to just sit and do this or just sit and do nothing at all.

“Oh, that is a gorgeous sight!” Rylan’s voice makes me turn to where she was coming up from the galley.

Her dark hair is loose and flowing down her back. She has changed out of her scrubs and is in a pair of white leggings and a pale blue button-up shirt that looks very familiar. She looks absolutely breathtaking as she walks to me with two glasses of red wine in her hands.

“Is that my shirt?”

She looks down at it and then back up at me with a smirk. “Not anymore. I stole it fair and square.”

She can keep it. I have plenty of shirts, and the missing one will not break me. It looks much better on her, anyway.

“Here.” she hands me one glass and then motions for me to scoot over.

I take the glass she offers but don’t move. She looks at me with a smile, then she sits in my lap with her legs over to one side so she can get back up when she wants. We sit there for a few minutes watching the sun sink further into the sky.

“Thank you.” I whisper to her.

“For what?” She glances at me with a knowing look.

“For being you and getting me out of my head. Thank you for stopping me from doing what I was thinking of doing.”

She puts her glass down on the shelf behind the bench we are on, then moves so that she is straddling my lap. I hand her my glass, and he puts it beside hers. She stares at me for a moment before she speaks.

“You were going to do a vanishing act to get away from the pain of what happened today. I can understand why you would want to do that, and I am going to tell you right now that if you had gone, I would have followed you.”

I smile softly. Of course she would. I am irresistible to this woman.

“You asked me earlier why I love you. Well, I can’t tell you when I fell in love with you in the first place. It was lust at first sight, but I fell in love with you over time. You are very kind, loving, and loyal to those you love and feel deserving of it.”

I frown at her because I don’t think of myself as kind necessarily.

“You help thousands of people every day with what you and Quinn created. I respect the hell out of you both for that.”

“We wanted to help our fellow soldiers no matter what branch of the military they were in to live, or a semblance of living, when our government failed them.”

“And you do that and so much more. You gave them jobs, homes, top-of-the-line prosthetics, and chances to help researchers advance technology for better neurotransmitters.”

We do good work at G&C Enterprises. That is the one thing I am proud of more than anything else I have ever done. Quinn and I made a brilliant choice in founding our company.

“I love you for who you are inside. The side that you don’t let everyone see. That side is my protector who beat the shit out of Heath. The same man did everything in his power to help my sister when she needed it. You are the man I want to marry.”

Marry.

She wants to marry me.

Holy shit.

We are on the same page there, and I am thrilled about that.

“When?” I whisper.

“I would right this moment if there was someone who could do it for us.”

“So that is a yes?”

Rylan laughs. “You haven’t even asked me yet.”

I stand, put my hands on her ass, and then stand up off the bench. She squeals, then wraps her arms and legs around me. I carefully carry her across the small deck until I reach the stairs to take us below deck.

Once we are down below, I sit her on the small table and then step away. I look around for that throw blanket I saw earlier. It has a fringe around the edges. I pull at one string until I have a decent length, and then I walk back to where I left Rylan.

There I go down on one knee before the love of my life.

“Rylan Danvers, will you marry me?”

“Yes, I will marry you.”

I stand up and then grab her left hand. Swiftly, I wrap the string around her ring finger and tie it off. “I will buy you a better ring as soon as possible.”

She smiles down at the sting on her finger. “This will work until then. Now, take me to the bedroom and make it official.”

She doesn’t have to ask me twice.