Page 54 of A Lifetime in 30 Days
She heard him closing and locking the door behind him—something he always did when he came over—then walk slowly up the stairs. When he entered the living room, he was loosening his tie. With one hand he slid the tie from around his neck and stuffed it into the back pocket of his slacks. He’d probably left his suit jacket in the car. He removed his sunglasses next, setting them on the TV stand as he passed it. Crossing the remaining space between them, he came to a stop a few cushions away from her on the sectional and adjusted his pants before taking a seat.
“What happened?” he asked as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
He looked so cool, so debonair, and so damn smug that she wanted to toss one of the pillows on the chair at his handsome face. How dare he waltz back into her life only to destroy it! If that was what he’d come back to do. Hell, she didn’t know. She’d gone over everything that Jamaica had said numerous times. And there was still a part of her that just couldn’t believe any of it. The problem was, Vanna didn’t know if she could trust that part of herself. It had led her wrong before.
“Why did you come back to DC?” she asked, because beating around the bush wasn’t an option. She was sick of the volleying back and forth that had been going through her mind.
After staring at her for a few seconds, he gave a slow nod and replied, “My time at Thomas Karn was up. I missed my family. I was ready to come home.”
“Why did you come to the funeral? I mean, why did you make a point of coming to say something to me after it was all over?”
“Because once upon a time, we were friends,” he said. “I don’t like to see my friends hurt. I wanted to make sure you were all right then, just like I do now.”
“The answer is no!” she yelled back, not caring if she ruffled his ridiculous calm. There were so many emotions churning inside her that she didn’t know what to do with. “No, I’m not all right, Aden. And I haven’t been all right since I found out Caleb was dead.”
“Okay,” he said, clasping his fingers together in front of him. “That’s fair. How can I help?”
“See, that’s the thing,” she said, giving a nervous laugh. “You’ve been helping every step of the way. Getting me an attorney, coming by for wellness checks, taking me out for workouts, getting someone to fix my house. Every time something bad happens, you try to fix it. Like you’re my savior. Well, I don’t need a man to swoop in and save the day for me, Aden!”
“Okay,” he repeated. “Anything else you want to get off your chest?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, there is.” She leaned forward until she could plant her elbows on her knees the same way he was and glared at him. “Are you doing this? Are you framing me? If you are, just tell me. I’m not gonna whack you over the head, because I’ve had my share of jail to last a lifetime, and I promise I’ll hold Granny back if she comes at you, but I just need to know, Aden. ”
For a long moment he didn’t say a word. She was used to these silent stretches, which she presumed came along whenever she said something he didn’t like. From the way he was staring at her, she could tell he was thinking about what he wanted to say. Would it be a lie? She’d googledhero syndromeand found that it was a real thing. Not that she’d thought Aden could have a condition like this, but among othershows she watched,Criminal Mindswas in her rotation, so she knew you couldn’t always tell who or what a person really was just by looking at them. Or sleeping with them, in this case.
“Are you serious right now?” he asked her finally.
“I’m dead serious, Aden. Because you know what? My life is on the line here. Those police officers found money bags from the casino in my basement. How did they get here? You said before that you’d been in touch with Caleb when you first came back to the city three years ago, but not with me. You reached out to him and you knew we were separated, but you never reached out to me. Is that what this is about? Are you still pissed because, as you said, you saw me first?”
He grinned then, but it wasn’t that sexy-as-hell grin he had whenever he was ready to laugh or joke about something with her. No, this was an incredulous look, and when he stood up slowly, she knew this was about to go badly. He slid his hands into the front pockets of his slacks and walked away, stopping when he got near the steps. Then he turned slowly and walked toward her again.
“I’m gonna address your questions because I don’t want there to be any more ambiguity between us,” he said, his voice tight. “But you make this the very last time you insult me like this, Savannah. The. Very. Last. Time.”
If she hadn’t realized how serious this situation was before now, it rang loud and clear through the tension, which seemed to be bouncing off his toned shoulders, the firm set of his mouth, and the furrow of his brow. She’d never seen Aden angry, and this was definitely angry Aden.
“You wanna know why I didn’t come to you when I came back to the city? Because I couldn’t trust myself with you just yet. I never stopped wanting you, never stopped hating the fact that you were with Caleb. So when I came back to the city and found out the two of you were separated, of course the first thing I wanted to do was come and shoot my shot. But then Caleb tells me he’s still in love with you, that he’s trying to get you back. That he’sgonnaget you back. What was I supposed to do with that?
“I’m not a college kid anymore, and I’m definitely not about to get in the middle of a married couple’s squabbles. Not even for you. But when I found out he’d died and I saw you again ...” He stopped and shook his head. “I couldn’t stay away.
“As for whether I’m doing this to you—doing what, exactly? You think I put those money bags in your basement? You really think I’m framing you?” He laughed now, a sickly type of laugh that echoed throughout the room. “How dare you immediately think the worst of me when you allowed Caleb to gaslight and play you for over fifteen years!”
Immediately stung by those last words, Vanna stood, fists clenched at her sides. “Don’t you stand there and tell me about my relationship with Caleb. You don’t know a damn thing about what went on between us!”
Another wry chuckle erupted from his throat, and this time, Aden moved a hand from his pocket and ran it down the back of his head. “Are you serious right now? I mean, yeah, I guess you are.” He shrugged. “If anybody knows how he treated you, it’s me!” He slapped that same hand against his chest. “I was there, Savannah. You remember that?Iwas there.”
“No,” she shot back. “Not for fifteen years, you weren’t. You were off becoming a big-time financial adviser and forgetting those you called friends.”Forgetting about me.She wisely clamped her mouth shut before those words could tumble free. Never, not until this very moment, had she admitted that on some level, she had wanted Aden to be her savior back then. To save her from Caleb.
“I never forgot you,” he said, his tone only moderately softer now. “I never forgot you, Savannah. And I always knew exactly who Caleb was. You were the one who couldn’t see it. Who couldn’t accept what you so willingly walked into.”
She gasped, brought her fingers up to rub her temples, then dropped her arms again in exasperation. “What are you talking about?”
Aden went silent again. His gaze pinned her where she stood. “You really want to know?” he asked.
“Yes, dammit! Don’t you think I should know? At least now, amidst all that’s going on, don’t you think I should finally have some answers?”
“I always wanted you to have answers,” he said. “It just wasn’t my place to give them to you. And that was a choice you made, and I had no other recourse but to respect.”
He wasn’t wrong, at least not about that. She had chosen Caleb over him, had decided that Caleb would be her future, and she’d never looked back at Aden.
