Summer's End (Wildflowers #5) - Jill Sanders Page 0,37

“I guess you could say that.” He watched her closely while she read the top line: Last Will and Testament of Harold Alfred Smith.

She felt her entire body tense once more as the meaning of the papers sunk in. Her father was dead.

Strong arms nudged her towards a bench a few feet away. She didn’t know how long she sat there, under the light of the lamps, holding her father’s will while Aiden sat beside her, but what finally woke her from the stupor was her walkie-talkie going off.

Aiden reached over and quickly answered it.

“Aubrey’s indisposed at the moment,” Aiden replied to Elle, who was humorously telling Aubrey she was late, and she’d better get her butt to the dining hall soon.

“Is she okay?” Elle replied with concern.

“No,” Aiden said. “She’s going to need to skip out on dinner,” he said, causing her to jerk out of the funk and reach for the walkie-talkie.

“I’m fine,” she started, but Aiden grabbed it back.

“No, she’s not. She just found out that her father passed away,” he barked out, causing her to punch him in the arm. He winced but continued talking as he rubbed his arm. “I’m taking her up to the apartment. She needs the rest of the night off.”

“We’ll be there…” Elle said quickly. “Stay with her.”

“Will do.” He nodded and tucked the walkie-talkie into his jean pocket. “Come on.” He lifted her easily so that she stood next to him.

She blinked a few times and looked up into his eyes. “I hate you,” she said softly.

“Good.” He smiled down at her. “Focus on that instead.” He started pulling her down the path towards the main building.

She tried to jerk her arm free, but he held onto her arm, and she fell into step with him.

“I was going this way anyway,” she said, trying to pass him.

He chuckled and easily matched her fast pace. Damn, his legs were too long. She couldn’t outrace him. She noticed that he had tucked the folder containing her father’s will under his arm as they walked through the front door of the building.

When they stepped into the lobby area, Elle and Hannah rushed across the floor towards her. Both of them were dressed in beads and feathers for the dinner.

She found the sight almost pathetic and held in a laugh until she noticed the worry and sadness in her friends’ eyes and remembered the papers in Aiden’s hands.

Aubrey held up her hands to stop them. “Don’t,” she warned them, feeling her throat close up, but they didn’t stop until their arms were wrapped around their friend.

Then she was being pulled towards the stairs. Aubrey glanced back and noticed that Aiden followed them up the stairs and into the apartment.

Elle push Aubrey down on the sofa while Hannah rushed around and grabbed a bottle of wine and poured each of them a glass. Her friend stopped to remove the silly headdress she’d been wearing.

She noticed that a beer was shoved into Aiden’s hand just as Zoey and Scarlett rushed into the room and demanded to know what had happened. They too were wearing silly carnival costumes, making the room seem like a Las Vegas dressing room instead of the apartment the friends had shared the first year they’d lived at the campgrounds.

This was Zoey’s first night back at work after her honeymoon. Her friend was practically glowing from her vacation. Not to mention the fact that she was pregnant and married now.

When Elle filled the other two in on what was going on, and the will was mentioned, Aiden handed it over and moved to sit beside Aubrey. Just feeling his leg brush against hers had her stiffening. God, how was it she wanted him now more than she’d wanted him before? Why couldn’t she convince herself that she was better off pushing everyone away from her?

She should have never accepted the necklace he’d given her. She should have denied him this next game that he was playing. One in which he was trying to win her heart, something she could never give him.

Why couldn’t she get him out of her system? It was as if the more she had him, the more she wanted him. Even now, after cleansing him from her system for the past seven months, the desire for him still grew within her.

Maybe she would never break free from Aiden. Was she doomed to want him for the rest of her life? She knew in her mind and heart that she