Chapter 37

Chapter 37
Aurelia's POV

"What are you thinking of?" She asked as we walked down the stairs together.

"Nothing really?" I said, holding the bannisters. We walked through the corridor and went out through the back door of the kitchen, then walked across to her car.

I got into the passenger's seat and placed my legs on the dashboard, knowing it was going to annoy her.

She gave me a look and rolled her eyes, starting the car.

"Why are you marrying Killian?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

"Um... Why are you asking me this?" Ivy turned the key in the ignition and then reversed out of the driveway, onto the main road.

"I'm just curious... He's..."

"Very young?" Ivy questioned. "He's just about nine years younger maybe," she shrugged. "Men do it all the time. Marry someone younger."

"You're not a man," I argued... A very very invalid argument.

"I'm not, but I don't care. If they can do it, I can."

"But why marry him? How did..."

"He's hot, he's young, he has money. That's good enough for me."

"You don't care if he's..." A murderer I want to say, but I let the words die on my tongue. "I don't know..."

"Well, if it was convenient."

"How though?" I asked, genuinely curious. "Did you make him propose?"

"He did that all on his own, Aurelia. What? You don't think a young hot man would be interested in an old hag like me?" She asked, sarcasm dripping from her tone. Ivy was nowhere near an old hag.

"Not that... It's just, what are the chances?"

"Well, I went to the club after a fight with Mario..."

Right... Her most recent ex-fiancé.

"And then?"

"He saw me, walked up to me... We talked for a while, and then hooked up," she said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"He walked up to you?" I asked just to confirm.

"Yeah. Why? Hard to believe? Men love the fantasy of an older woman. Plus I'm hot."

"You are," I said, my thoughts spinning. Why on earth did I feel like there was more to Killian approaching her? Maybe he has an agenda and singled her out of hundreds of people at a club.

Yeah sure, and he has an agenda when he singled you out, a snarky voice in my head commented.

"And trust me, after that sex? I knew I couldn't put up with Mario's inadequacy in bed. I'd eventually get tired of my toys.'

"Ivy!" I said, my cheeks flaming. She really didn't have a filter.

"What? I know you have a vibrator."

I swallowed hard and ignored her. "So....you broke up with Mario then? Called off the wedding? That was why?"

"I mean not entirely. I wasn't sure if this hot stranger had money and—"

"You have a lot of money on your own," I commented, taking my legs off the dashboard. "Why are you with men for money?"

"I prefer spending theirs," she said, her lips stretching into a grin. "Now where was I?" She asked, stopping at a red light.

"We eventually ran into each other a few times, and it just had to be fate... Because I met him at places only rich people can afford. And he owned one of them... A golf course."

I whistled at that.

"We had sex each time we met. It was amazing. I said I wanted to be with him and not my fiancé, he asked what I was waiting for? Why was I still with Mario?"

"Wow," I said. But the wow had nothing to do with their relationship. It was because that just seemed to confirm there was an agenda.

"Do you love him?" I asked her after a while.

She shrugged. "Yeah. And he's good to you... My worry has always been, it'll be the wrong man... Before you graduate and finally be on your own... I couldn't make bad choices."

I snorted. "I'm not your child. You don't love me... You've done nothing to prove you do."

"I loved your father," she told me. Her voice sounded honest, but I wasn't entirely sure I believed her.

"Hm." That was the only sound I could manage. My chest aches as I think of him.

I wouldn't have had to deal with this nonsense if he were here.

"Yeah,” she muttered, pulling into the parking lot of the mall.

"Do you think Killian loves you?"

"Maybe... I mean... He encouraged me to leave Mario."

"Have you thought maybe... He doesn't... Love you anymore?" I asked. I wondered for a second if she would suspect I had overheard their conversation on the staircase last night.

"Why?" She turned off the ignition but didn't step out. She simply relaxed back into her seat. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, looking obviously tired. I was starting to wonder if this was a good idea.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe he approached you for his own agenda? Or maybe he was attracted and now... I don't know, what if he mistook love for lust?"

Her jaw clenched slightly and she swallowed hard, then forced a smile. "That can be all that bad... Is there... Something you know?" She asked.

"No, no," I said hastily, laughing to cover up the feeling in my stomach. "I was just... Sorry, that was stupid of me to say or bring joy. Of course, he adores you."

"Aurelia?" Ivy asked, still not moving from her seat.

"Yeah?" My voice was weak. My legs suddenly began to feel like hell

"Can you be honest with me? A hundred percent honest?"

I swallowed hard, not knowing what to say. With the secret I had to bury, there was nothing honest about me.

"Why are you hesitating?" She asked. I could swear I heard nervousness in her voice, and there was something else too. A tone of feeling betrayed? Hurt? Anger? Fear? I wasn't sure.

"I'm not." It was a lie.

"Is there something... Is there something you know... something that happened that you're not telling me?”