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Aiden ignored him, climbing behind the wheel with jerky, uncoordinated movements and locking the doors behind him. Seth's heart plummeted. He didn't know what Aiden was thinking. Maybe he wasn't thinking at all; maybe he was operating on sheer animal instinct. He was running out of self-preservation, in the futile hope that it would hurt less that way. It wouldn't. It was going to hurt for the rest of their lives if they didn't fix this now.
Seth wasn't going to let a locked door stop him. Not now—not ever. He caught the bumper with the toe of his boot and launched himself onto the hood of the truck, landing with a thud that rattled the aluminum panel. Their gazes locked through the windshield, and Aiden's eyes bolted wide with shock.
"Unlock the door, Aiden," Seth commanded in his most threatening tone. He wasn't playing around. He refused to lose Aiden again. Not without a hell of a fight.
Aiden shook his head desperately. His chest was heaving, and his panicked breath fogged up the glass between them. It killed Seth to know that Aiden was hurting so much. He'd been hurting alone for so long, but Seth was going to make sure he was never alone again.
Aiden cracked the window just enough to yell, "Get off the roof, asshole!"
"Unlock the door!" Seth repeated.
Aiden's lips thinned, and he lowered his chin. Seth had only a moment to curse and grip the frame before Aiden shifted into gear. The truck lurched forward a few feet, and Seth's boots slipped out beneath him. He scrambled for purchase.
"Get off my damn truck!" Aiden's voice was cracking with emotion.
"Make me!" Seth shot back.
Aiden stared Seth down through the glass. He was beginning to look pissed. "Last chance," he warned. "Get off the truck. I'm leaving whether you're on it or not."
"You want to leave, you take me with you," Seth said in a low voice.
Aiden's eyes narrowed. Determination flooded his expression, and then he threw the truck into reverse and hit the gas. Seth had only a split second to make a decision, but in the end, it was no choice at all. He'd never let Aiden go again. The engine revved beneath him, and he curled his fingers around the lip of the hood, bracing for the worst.
For all his posturing, Aiden didn't take off like a bat out of hell. The truck rolled down the street at a modest clip, taking a corner with a sharp twist intended to shake Seth loose and send him rolling into the sidewalk flower box.
"Fuck!" Seth’s sweaty hands were cramping, and his boots slipped on the slick hood.
"Whooeee!" Delighted shouts rose up as they rolled by the assembled crowd. "Get 'im, Seth!"
"You can do it!"
"Ain't no worse than riding a bull at the county fair!"
Seth ignored them and braced his knees, one hand clutching the lip of the hood, the other pressed flat against the windshield above Aiden's head. Aiden stared straight ahead, his face a stony mask. Seth’s heart sank as he realized Aiden wasn’t going to stop. He was really going to drive out of town with Seth splayed against his windshield like a bug.
The truck swerved around a corner and picked up speed as they approached the edge of town. Houses and trees thinned, replaced by soggy open fields. The wind whipped Seth's hair around his face, stinging his eyes and getting into his mouth.
"I know you're scared!" Seth shouted over the roar of the wind and the engine. "But running away won't fix that pain inside you! Trust me—I know."
Aiden's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "You don't know anything!" he yelled back.
"I know you," Seth snarled.
The truck jolted over a dirt trail and into a fallow, brown field just beginning to green for spring. The tires bounced roughly over the uneven ground, bumping and shuddering like a bucking bull. Mud splattered Seth's face, and he knew he was seconds from being pitched into the soft, churned-up dirt.
"I know you!" he shouted again, desperate. "I'm the one person in this fucking world you never have to run from, Aiden Doyle! Knock it off and talk to me!"
Aiden's fierce mask cracked, ever so slightly, and his face twisted. Even through the dirty windshield, Seth could read the doubt and longing in his expression. Aiden's foot eased off the gas pedal ever so slightly. Hope surged inside Seth, and he went in for the kill. "I know why you're running! You think you let me down—but that never happened! I've seen you at your best and your worst, and I still want you. I'll never want anyone else but you. I never have. It has to be you!"
Aiden braked so abruptly that Seth lost his grip. He went flying off the truck and landed with a hard thud, sliding through the mud on his back until he came to a stop in a clump of cover ryegrass. He lay there, winded, staring up at the cloudless, powder-blue sky. Distantly, a door slammed, and then he heard the mushy sound of Aiden’s approaching boots. He tried to lift his head to see, but his neck felt wobbly with relief.
"You're fucking crazy, you know that?" Aiden demanded, falling to his knees beside him. His normally sun-warmed complexion was ashen, and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. "What kind of lunatic throws himself on top of a moving vehicle?"
"The same kind that would step in front of a bear for you," Seth said honestly. "I'll walk onto broken ice for you. I'll do anything it takes to keep you safe with me."
"Even if it means taking the blame for something I did?"
"Again and again. Every time." Seth locked eyes with him, allowing him to see the truth there. "I never regretted it. My only regret is not telling you the truth."
