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She looks at me with a blank expression. “Um, I’m going back to my place and since Lexi isn’t with me, you don’t need to stay.” She looks right into my eyes. Rejection fucking stings.
“Addison, I don’t think you should be alone.”
She sighs. “Aiden, I’ll be fine. I already know you have Stone parked outside my building, so why are you freaking out?” Why can’t Max keep his mouth shut?
“Why am I freaking out?” I grind out. “Maybe after what happened to you, you should be a little more freaked out.” I flip my seat belt release button, needing to stand up.
“Are you serious?” She stands up right in front of me. “I’m trying to live my life not in fear of everything because of what happened to me, and I’ve worked really hard to get to that place. I don’t need a daily reminder of it from you,” she snaps.
“What am I supposed to do, Addison? I can’t function thinking that you might be in the crosshairs of a sick bastard. Again.” I throw my hands in the air.
She takes a step back from me. “I don’t know why I thought we might have a chance,” she mumbles quietly.
My spine straightens. “What are you talking about? Because I’m worried about you, we won’t work? Did I miss something, Addison?” I step forward, needing to be closer to her, but she steps back again. Panic fills my eyes.
“That’s exactly why,” she says, briefly looking away, wrapping her arms around her stomach. “You’re too emotionally attached to my wellbeing that you’ll always be worried about my safety.”
“Let’s pretend what happened didn’t, I’d still be worried about your safety because I love you,” I explain.
She twists her lips, thinking about how to respond. “Aiden, too much has happened between us. You won’t know how to let it go. You’ll always be overprotective of me. And that’s understandable, but that’s not what I need in my life right now.” She stalls for a moment. “I can’t live in the past. If you are constantly worried about me, that’s exactly where I’ll stay.” Her voice shakes with emotion as tears run down her face.
Her words shoot straight to my heart. Like a fucking spear. I’m at a loss of what to say. The airplane shakes from turbulence. I think it’s from the weight of my heart breaking into pieces. Again.
“Please take your seat as we make our final descent into LaGuardia,” the pilot’s voice comes over the intercom. Addison turns around and sits down quietly and buckles her seat belt. My hands go to my temples. I can’t even comprehend how we got here in just a few minutes. The plane shakes again, reminding me that I need to sit down. I take a seat across from Addison. She stares out the window the rest of the flight.
By the time we land, anger has taken over my confusion. I slam my bag down as I watch her gather her stuff. I’ve taken two bullets since I’ve met Addison, and I’d take more to keep her safe. And that’s the reason we shouldn’t be together? Well then, I suck at this relationship thing.
As we walk off the plane, silence follows. I don’t even look her way when I sarcastically say, “I’m taking you home, but don’t worry, I won’t go in.”
“Aiden, I don’t want you to be mad at me.” She grips my arm.
“I really don’t know what you want from me,” I say, flexing my jaw, looking off into the distance. “You don’t want me to love you. You don’t want me to be mad at you. You don’t want me to worry about you. Tell me, Addison, what the hell do you want from me?” I stop in the middle of the tarmac and pin her with my stare.
“You could be a little more understanding,” she whispers and then looks down.
“Well, that goes both ways, sweetheart,” I say with anger, walking away, leaving her standing there. I close my eyes as my shoulders drop, and I let out a heavy breath. I’m a bastard. I turn around to apologize, but she’s already walking in the direction of another hangar. I throw my head back, staring up at the sky. Why didn’t anyone warn me about this shit when you fall in love? I might have tried to avoid it a lot longer.
I laugh at myself over thinking that was even an option. The second I laid eyes on Addison, I knew something had changed in me. My heart started beating to a different tune that day.
When I look back at Addison, she’s almost to the hangar. I take off, sprinting to catch her. “I said I was taking you home,” I say out of breath when I catch up to her.
She ignores me as she keeps walking. I shake my head and curse under my breath. I follow a few steps behind her into the hangar. She stops and looks around.
“You’d make this so much easier on yourself if you’d just walk to my car so I could take you home,” I say, my voice laced with humor. She continues to ignore me, walking toward a couple of men.
“Excuse me, do y’all have a phone I could borrow? My phone died and I need to call a taxi,” she asks in her sweet, southern voice. The guys look at her and then at me. I smirk and slightly shake my head no at them. I’m thankful right now that Addison can’t see me.
“Sorry, our phones are having issues today. They’re not working,” one of the guys says and shrugs. Addison turns enough so she can see me.
“How convenient,” she grits out, narrowing her eyes at me. I shrug innocently. She turns back to the guys who are trying to hide their smile. She sighs out of frustration. “Whatever. All you guys are assholes,” she says, stomping toward the exit, waving her hands around.
The guys chuckle as I pass by. “Good luck with that, Aiden.”
I laugh. “Thanks for your help guys,” I say over my shoulder, jogging to catch up with Addison again. I laugh again, thinking that Max will get a kick out of that. The Smith brothers have been our friends for a long time.
When I catch up with Addison, she’s already walking toward my car.
Thank God.
