Page 28 of Fall For Me
If I know anything about Aiden, it’s that he has himself wrapped up in some sort of disaster.
“Right . . . um . . . fuck.”
“Spit it out, Aiden.”
He stops pacing back and forth, throws his head back, and pinches the bridge of his nose. When his chin drops back down and eyes connect with mine, he cringes. “I lost a butt plug?—”
“What do you mean you lost a butt plug? Like, you put it in the wrong drawer?”
He shakes his head.
Eyes widening, I ask, “Did you lose it in your ass?!”
“No, Han! I didn’t lose it in my ass! Jesus!” Aiden practically yells, while Sean and I side eye each other. “One second it was right where it was supposed to be, and the next it was gone!Herass,schluuupe, sucked it up like a fucking hoover! I don’t know what the hell to do!” he exclaims, waving his hand around animatedly.
“Take her to the hospital.”
“I can’t do that!”
“If it’s not coming out, you don’t have another choice.”
“Fuck my life! I’m dead! You hear me? D-E-A-D. Fuck me! You might as well buy me a plot and a casket right now and put me in it, Han-Han, because this isn’t something I’ll survive!”
“Stop being so dramatic. You said it’s in her ass not yours, and I hardly think that would kill anyone anyway.”
Just as the words leave my mouth, I catch a flash of brown hair behind him; the room blurs in the background as he spins to face her.
“All good, Sunshine?” Aiden asks her.
A deep laugh rumbles from Sean, startling me and drowning out the woman’s response in the process.
“Why are you laughing?” I hiss.
Sean clears his throat, running a hand along his jaw. “Him . . . calling her ‘Sunshine’ . . . it reminded me of something he said at Cal and Aspen’s wedding . . . you know what? Never mind.” He waves it off.
Turning my attention back to Aiden, I ask, “Is she okay? Did it come out?”
“Please tell me you didn’t,” the woman groans, clearly embarrassed that he’s talking to someone else about their personal business.
“We’re all good here! Gotta go, darlin’. Love you-thanks-bye,” Aiden rushes out, cutting me off.
Confused, I stare at my phone as the screen goes black.
“Amateur,” Sean mutters, laughing under his breath and forcing my attention back to him.
Every time he laughs, my heart beats a little bit faster. As I study him, his eyes lit up with humor, I have to admit he seems different—happy even. My mind goes back to our conversation before Aiden called, when Sean said he loved me, and my resolve begins to crack. The words he spoke to me? Never in my wildest dreams could I have conjured them up.
“You fucking haunt me.”
Denying that he haunts me too would be pointless, but there are so many factors to consider now, and looking at him in this moment, I realize I haven’t been fair about anything. I tried to tell him about my condition, but then he cut me off, assuming I was about to confess my undying love to him when what I was really going to do was ask him to go somewhere private to talk. And instead of letting him go to live his life peacefully, I begrudged him. I’ve been incredibly hateful. Because even though telling him I love him wasn’t what I was going to say that day, I still loved him nonetheless, and his reaction crushed my heart into pieces.
The hypocrisy.
What kind of life is this for anyone? Constant doctor’s appointments, a mutilated body, and living in fear of positive test results? If I did end up with cancer, then what? And if I didn’t survive the treatment, the damage that would cause him is beyond the hurt I’m about to cause him now.
Sure, I have every right to be pissed at him for jerking me around, but he has the right to be pissed at me too. If what he’s telling me is true and he loves me, then I’ve also led him on. I can’t guarantee I’llbe able to stick around for the long haul. What a narcissistic thing for me to do, and now he’s bulldozing his way back into my life . . . I don’t have any business becoming involved with anyone.
“Where’s your head at, Sweetheart, hmm?” He asks, interrupting my rambling thoughts. His fingertips graze down my cheek, and I realize he’s closed the space between us. “You look like you’re somewhere else.”
