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I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re supposed to be my best friend. This shouldn’t make you happy.”
“Shut up, Aiden. Let your girl talk,” Jax says in anticipation.
I dramatically gesture with my hand to tell her to keep going. Might as well get this out. I’ll never live this down now with everyone knowing.
“I love you,” she says, grinning, looking at me before turning back to everyone. I squeeze her thigh where my hand rests. “I knew that I needed to get out of there. There was no way I was going to stay, even for a hot bodyguard.”
She tells them about our run that morning, how she faked a fall. I remember feeling like shit because we were racing. The last thing I wanted was for her to get hurt.
“When he pulled me up, I …” She winces, looking at me.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay. Keep going.”
“With the momentum of him pulling me up, I kneed him as hard as I could.” Groans can be heard around the circle. Any man cringes when they hear that. It hurts to even think about. “And when he went down, I grabbed his gun.”
I look at Max and he has the widest grin on his face, waiting for it. I flip him off, knowing he’s getting a thrill out of this.
“I knew I only had a couple minutes before the other guards were out there, so I needed to get out fast. I also knew if I ran, Aiden would have caught me.” She clears her throat before continuing. Everyone is hanging on her every word. “So … I shot him and ran like hell.”
Not a word is uttered. They are shocked speechless. That is until Ryker bust out laughing. “You fell in love with a girl who shot you? Did you confuse that with Cupid’s arrow?”
I shrug. “It was fucking hot how she handled the gun.”
Ryker shakes his head. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Like I said, La Femme Nikita.”
Max’s laugh booms around us, and he points at Ryker. “She was hot,” he states, getting up. “I have to piss.” He walks around the house and does his business. I don’t think we’ll ever grow up enough that we stop thinking it’s cool to piss outside.
Syd shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Men,” she says, sighing.
Addison nods in agreement. She continues her story about how she moved to New York and finally met Agent Aiden Roberts, talks briefly about our dates, skims over the Jessie incident but explains why Ryan made the comment earlier. Then she gets to the part about admitting to me that Travis was her dad. She stops and looks at me when she starts to share that my dad was the one who killed her mom.
I nod for her to keep going. “Travis requested to meet me, and I didn’t know why. So I went to visit him to tell him that I wanted him to leave me alone. He ends up telling me that he had Aiden’s dad killed because he’s the one who…” she swallows and takes a breath, “…killed my mom.”
Gasps echo around the fire. My spine stiffens. I blow out a harsh breath. We’ve never discussed this. I have no idea how she feels about it. It feels like a forgotten memory that was never addressed, but now it’s front and center. She turns in my lap, facing me.
“I let that go a long time ago,” she says, feeling me tense. “Like you said that afternoon, we can’t control what either of our fathers did. We aren’t like them. You’re a good man, and I love you,” she whispers, leaning over and kissing me.
When she rights herself again, she continues. This is the part she takes a lot of pauses. Her voice shakes as she tells them about being kidnapped, beaten, and then raped. Her gaze never leaves the fire. The flames dance in her eyes as I watch her. I’m not sure if I’m seeing the fire or her actual anger. Thank God she doesn’t go into the details of her rape.
Poking my eyes out right now would feel better than having to hear this. I read the report. I know what happened, but hearing it come out of Addison’s mouth is like adding fuel to my already burning fire. I’m about to explode. I look up to the dark blue sky as my leg starts shaking.
Cool it, Roberts. She needs you to be strong.
I know she needs to get this out in the open, but I hope like hell it’ll be the last time I hear it. I feel Max’s hand on my shoulder, squeezing it. I don’t look over. I just nod. Addison unwraps my fist and intertwines our fingers as she continues talking. Her touch helps ground me. I pull our joined hands to my lips, kissing them softly.
She tells them pretty much everything. This is torture. She talks about the rescue, the healing process, all the way up to finding Lexi. I finally release a huge breath. My heart feels like it’s on speed and about to jump out of my skin. I want to stop her and take her away so I can make her feel safe. Take all the pain away. Every now and then she wipes away a tear.
But my strong girl continues. She pushes through it. The guys never stop her or interrupt her. They can see she needs this. But they’re an extension of me, and I can see the anger on their faces. They hide it from Addison, but I know each of their tells.
We’re close to the finish line, and I’m exhausted. My muscles have started hurting from being tense for so long. She’s up to Wednesday night now. I can tell she’s exhausted, too. She grabs my beer and takes a drink. I sweep my thumb against her lips, wiping the beer from them.
“Thanks,” she whispers, bringing her lips to mine. I kiss her hard. Her lips part for me, and I don’t even care that we have an audience. I kiss her deep. I want to make sure she knows that none of her past matters. She matters. I hear the guys snicker about needing a beer break anyway.
I weave my fingers through her hair. Her hair is so soft and beautiful. She moans into my mouth, and my dick twitches. The little she-devil must feel it because she grinds her ass against it. I grab her hair and pull her back.
“Sweetheart, I already want to take you away, you better stop or I’m not going to be held responsible for your disappearance tonight,” I growl.
She laughs. “I love you so much, Aiden. Thank you for being here. I know how hard this was for you to hear.” She looks down.
