Aidan as he absently drummed his fingertips against the armrest of his father’s favorite chair.
“How have you been, Mr. Robinson?” Aidan asked, only to end up biting back a sigh when Melanie’s father continued glaring at him.
Aidan turned his attention to the woman sitting across from him and decided to focus his attention back on Melanie when her mother narrowed her eyes on him. When he found Melanie debating between a Hostess cupcake and a Hostess apple pie, he couldn’t help but smile when she mumbled sadly, “I can’t decide.”
“Ah, you shouldn’t be eating that garbage,” a petite blonde said with a disapproving sigh as she reached over and-
“Don’t make me kill you,” Melanie said, not bothering to look up as she continued debating between snacks as her mother said, “Leave her alone, Caitlyn.”
“It’s not good for the baby,” the woman that he’d heard so much about, none of it good, said with a pointed look at the snacks in Melanie’s hands as she pulled a man with a sheepish smile on his face towards the loveseat by the window and sat down, snuggling up against his side before his ass had a chance to hit the cushion.
“The baby’s fine,” Aidan assured her even as he couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing here since Melanie’s parents told them that she couldn’t make it.
“What are you doing here, Caitlyn?” her mother asked, looking confused while her father released a resigned sigh.
“Why wouldn’t I be here?” Caitlyn asked with a perky smile as she laced her fingers with the man who hadn’t stopped staring at Melanie since he’d walked into the room.
“Because you weren’t invited,” her father said with a glare still locked on Aidan.
“Why wouldn’t we be invited?” Caitlyn asked, looking confused as she flipped her perfect honey blonde hair back over her shoulder.
“It’s fine,” Melanie mumbled absently as she handed him the lemon pie so that she could continue searching through the bag.
“This is our daughter, Caitlyn and her fiancé, Adam,” her mother said as Aidan noted the way that Adam looked at Melanie and-
“After four years, we’re finally getting married!” Caitlyn said with a sheepish smile as she held up her left hand and gave her ring-finger a pointed wiggle.
“Jesus Christ,” her father said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face as the forced smile on her mother’s face froze and Melanie…Melanie briefly paused in search for the perfect snack to glance up at the happy couple and mumbled, “Congratulations,” before focusing back on her bag of treats. Aidan sat there watching her, noting the way she bit her bottom lip and the way that she gripped the plastic bag tightly in her hands.
“Why don’t we go have a look at the box of my old baby stuff that my mother left in my room?” Aidan suggested as he reached over and took Melanie’s trembling hand in his.
“Ooooh, I love baby stuff!” her sister gushed, moving to stand up and join them only to sit back down with a pout when her parents shot her matching glares.
With a gentle tug, Aidan pulled Melanie to her feet and led her out of the room and headed upstairs. By the time they made it to his old room, she was crying and for the first time in his life, he wanted to fucking kill someone.
“God, I’m such an idiot,” she said with a humorless chuckle as she wiped at the tears streaming down her face.
“No, you’re not,” Aidan said, watching as she walked over to the double bay window that he used to spend hours at when he was little, watching as the other kids played while he tried to work up the nerve to ask if he could join them.
He never did.
“Yes, I am,” Melanie said, shaking her head in disgust as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Why’s that?” he asked as he closed the bedroom door.
Shaking her head, she said, “Because I should have known this would happen.”
Nodding absently, Aidan leaned back against the door as he debated giving her a moment, but that wasn’t really an option, which meant…
“Did Lucifer ever tell you that I used to have a speech impediment?”
“Not right now, Aidan,” Melanie said, wiping angrily at her face as he pushed away from the door and crossed the room.
“It was actually pretty bad. I couldn’t form a coherent sound until I was four and that was after two years of speech therapy. All the specialists told my parents that they should probably start