Sinful Ever After - Vivian Wood Page 0,17

my feet. I twist my lips. “At basic training for a couple of months.”

Instantly Aiden’s face softens. “Ah. I didn’t realize. I just got home on leave myself.”

I nod, my face still scrunched up. Talking about how I feel about my brother all but abandoning me isn’t exactly high on my priority list right now. He takes another second to scan my face, then sighs.

“I think we should get you home. Or somewhere safe, at least. And…” He looks me up and down. “You have to wear… more.”

Cheeks burning, I don't know what to say to that. I have the distinct thought that if a giant sink hole opened up in the floor right now and swallowed me whole, I would welcome it.

Aiden raises both brows. “You ready to go?”

Confessing is the most intense kind of agony imaginable. “My backpack is stashed away in a closet. It’s got a change of clothes in it.”

He huffs out a laugh. “Alright. Let’s go get it.”

He waits for me to throw away the lemonade I’m holding. I keep the pretzel, though I couldn’t fathom being hungry right now. Still, it’s good to have. The kid that’s known real hunger before won’t let me throw it away anyway.

Dragging my feet as I go back to the closet and retrieve my backpack, I try to think clearly. As I change clothes, I wince. I’m in so much trouble as soon as Aiden tells Grayson the circumstances of his finding me.

When I come out of the ladies room, relief is written all over Aiden’s face as he surveys me. “That’s better.”

I look down at my faded too-big hoodie and my boy’s cargo shorts. For the first time, I feel ashamed of what I am wearing. More ashamed than when I was wearing the itty bitty dress.

At least when I wore that, it was easy to tell that I have a shape. In my regular clothes, I am literally hidden. I pull my backpack onto my shoulder and try not to cry, utterly miserable.

“You can take me home but no one will be there,” I rasp.

Aiden favors me with another long look. “Do you like pizza?”

My stomach rumbles at the very thought, even though I’m too worked up to really feel hungry. “I guess?”

“Come on. There’s a pizza place on the other side of the mall.” He reaches out and touches my shoulder gently, just to get me moving. “We can stop there on the way to your house.”

It’s almost electric, the feeling of his fingers on my thin shoulder. Sure, the hoodie is in the way. But that doesn’t stop me from looking up at him with something like awe.

Realization hits me like a lightning bolt straight to the heart.

He saved me.

Now he’s taking care of me.

As we stroll toward the pizza place together, I can barely breathe because I know…

He cares about me. Not because he has to, like Grayson. And not because he’s paid by the state, like all those foster parents.

He just cares because he’s a good guy.

And that makes him a thousand times more attractive to me than I found him before. Starry eyed, I follow along, tongue tied and clutching to my backpack for dear life.

Chapter Seven

Aiden

The next morning, I wake up and force coffee down my throat. As I shower and get ready, I put a record in the record player. “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” blares through the crappy speakers, instantly lifting my mood.

I have a lot of vices, but my records are a lasting addiction that I don't want to shake. Marvin Gaye’s smooth voice sounds great despite the lack of sound equipment, and I like to think it makes being required to put on pants today bearable.

I’m not a natural early bird by any means, though working at the National Park Service put me on something of a daytime schedule. It’s been ten days now since I was put on leave there, and my night owl instincts are kicking in again.

Still humming that tune, I fill up a thermos with more coffee.

Then I head out of my apartment to find Olivia’s place empty. That figures. Olivia has always struck me as a morning person. Besides, this gives me a little time and a ton of coffee before I have to see her. Which is great, since I need to get my defenses up. Otherwise, who even knows what I will do or say around her.

I drag myself through the woods and up to the main house.