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What the hell just happened? I must be emotionally exhausted from the last couple days that I’m starting to act crazy. My phone dings. I dig for it in my purse and pull it out.
Aiden: Make sure Dr. Jekyll comes home tonight.
That’s what I’m hoping, too. Seems I’m losing control of my sanity.
Chapter twenty-two
A loud noise jolts me from my sleep. I glance at my nightstand and see it’s only five-thirty in the morning. As I sit up, I wonder if I dreamed the noise because I don’t hear anything now. I should check on Lexi. Make sure it wasn’t her and she doesn’t need something. When I’m tightening my robe, another noise comes from the living room. It sounds like someone’s groaning.
I rush to grab my gun, but it’s not there. Where the hell did it go? I frantically look around the room, wondering if I moved it and just don’t remember doing it. I know I didn’t. Another groan. I run out of the room, not even thinking. I need to make sure Lexi is safe.
I stop. Frozen in place. Staring at the man tied to a chair in my living room, hunched over with blood running down his face. My heart stops.
Aiden.
“Aiden!” I scream and run over to him, trying to lift his head. It falls right back down. Then I hear a laugh behind me.
A laugh I used to have nightmares over.
A laugh that could bring me to my knees.
A laugh I thought I’d never hear again.
I jerk my head in his direction and shake it repeatedly. “No, you’re supposed to be dead,” I whimper, pointing at him. Everyone told me he was dead.
“Well, princess, I’m alive and well,” Joe says, standing up from the barstool. “You looking for this?” He holds up my gun and waves it in the air.
I look back to Aiden. “Aiden, wake up. Please, wake up,” I say in a panic as I shake him. Each step Joe takes, my heart skips a beat. My hands shake as I try to untie him, but I can’t make them stop long enough to do it. The sound of Joe’s footsteps suffocates me.
“You had to know I’d come back for you, princess.”
“Stay the fuck away from me!” I snap, taking a few steps away from Aiden. Away from him. Memories flood my mind, reminding me of the hell I was in when I was his prisoner.
“You are mine and always will be,” he grates out. When he reaches Aiden, he brings my gun up to Aiden’s head. No. No. No. Don’t kill him.
“Stop! I’ll do whatever you want. Please, don’t kill him,” I beg. My fear of Aiden being killed far outweighs my fear of what Joe can do to me. I survived once, I can do it again.
“Oh, you’ll do whatever I want whether he’s alive or not. And I choose not.” His laugh echoes off the walls. I gasp, my chest burning as I try and find the strength to breathe.
BANG!
I scream at the sound.
“Noo! Aiden!” I run over and fall to my knees at his lifeless body. “Noo!” I scream out over and over. “You can’t leave me,” I cry.
Chapter twenty-three
“Addie, wake up.”
“No!” I hear myself yell. “Don’t leave me.”
“Addie, it’s me, Lexi.”
I feel little hands on me, shaking me. I gasp and bolt up in bed. My eyes dart around the room. They land on Lexi who is sitting in my bed, staring back at me with concerned eyes. Oh, my God. I hope Lexi didn’t see Aiden. I throw the covers off me, wincing when I put weight on my bad ankle but push through it and rush into the living room.
The living room is pitch dark, other than the soft glow coming from the windows. The only thing I hear is my heartbeat. I turn my head toward the living room and everything seems normal. All four chairs are properly pushed in at the kitchen table. Then I glance at the clock. Twelve-thirty. I grab my chest and close my eyes. It was only a nightmare. Tears flow down my cheek as the feeling of relief spreads throughout my body.
“Addie, are you okay?” A warm little hand slips into mine and squeezes. “You were having a bad dream.”
