Aiden, who has been silently stewing in the front seat while he drives us back towards Crescentwood, isn’t happy with that answer though, snapping out, “What the hell were you thinking leaving school early? Not only would your father be pissed if he found out, but it left you vulnerable to those assholes.
“Don’t think we haven’t noticed that no one here seems to like you all that much; hell, they’re all out to get you. So why the hell would you walk down an empty road all alone, just asking for something bad to happen to you?”
He grinds his teeth and his hands clench tightly around the steering wheel, causing his knuckles to whiten with the pressure.
Sighing heavily, I have to agree with what he says - not that I’m going to tell him that - but he is right. It was stupid on my part to leave school. I just couldn’t be there anymore, after what happened this morning, but I should have known Preston and Barrett weren’t just going to let me run off and wallow.
“I get it. I fucked up. It won’t happen again.” I concede without sharing any details of my shitty day. In an attempt to change the conversation, I ask, “What are we going to tell my father?” Hoping that my gut feeling about these two is right and they will back up my story to Robert.
“I don’t know. We should stick as close to the truth as possible though.” Thinking about it a bit more before giving me an actual answer, Aiden eventually expands, “You need to tell your father you left with Preston and Barrett to go hang out or something, and we will just say that we followed you but couldn’t get close enough to see anything. Vague, but plausible, and will satisfy your father, for now.”
I just nod my agreement before turning to look out the window, watching the trees fly by.
The three of us sit in silence for several moments. I can feel the tension coming off Aiden all the way on my side of the car, increasing with every second that he sits and stews, not knowing what happened today.
It only takes another few minutes before he loses control and snaps out at me, “Tell us what happened today!” It’s no longer phrased as a question, his anger getting the better of him.
“Please,” Ty adds placatingly, giving a pointed look to Aiden.
“We just need to know they didn’t hurt or threaten you.”
“They didn’t,” I assure them, hesitating over telling them what happened. If I tell them what Preston and Barrett know, and Aiden and Tyler tell my father, then I could be putting both of their lives at risk. Preston is already on my father's ‘to be aware of’ list, thanks to Charles.
I don’t know how much I can trust Aiden and Tyler. They have protected me so far, but how far will that protection extend? At what point will their loyalty to my father win out against whatever feelings they have for me? Besides, just because they do feel some need to look out for me, doesn’t mean the same courtesy would extend to Preston and Barrett either.
God, all of this is giving me a headache.
My hand has been fiddling with a hole in the material of my seat while I mull all of this over, poking at it and making it bigger.
In an uncharacteristic gesture of comfort, Aiden reaches across the centre-console and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze before resting it on my knee, keeping his hand on top of my own.
“We aren’t going to go running to your father with whatever it is you have to tell us,” He promises softly.
“Why?” I question, shaking my head. As much as I want to believe they will stand by me, I just don’t understand why they would defy my father like that.
“It’s complicated. We will try and explain it to you, but it’s too long of a story to go into today. Can you just trust us?” He asks, giving my hand another squeeze.
I want to trust them.
I take a long moment to mull it over, neither of them pushing me to make a decision while I think about everything I have learned about them over the last few weeks, and my gut feeling that I can trust these two unlikely allies.
Finally, I make the decision to open up and tell them the truth.
“Preston is suspicious of Robert. Robert is in business with Preston’s father, Charles, and, I don’t really know, but I’m guessing Preston doesn’t like, or doesn’t trust, his Dad. Whatever it is, he seems to know that my father is up to something unsavory. And he thinks, or well he thought, I was in on whatever my father is doing.”
“That’s why the kids at school don’t like you? That rich piece of shit turned them against you?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I confirm what he says, “Yeah. The two of them rule the school.”
“What happened today,” Tyler enquires, realising I deliberately skipped over the events in school this morning.
Shaking my head, trying to push past the pain as I remember the betrayal I faced at school today, I finally answer their question. “Shit got bad at school and I bailed early. Preston and Barrett found me walking back to the mansion and…kidnapped me.
“Took me to their little hideaway, or whatever the hell that was back there,” I explain, waving behind me to indicate the clearing in the back-ass of nowhere that we just left, “and questioned me about Robert.”
“What did you tell them?” Aiden asks in a harsh voice causing me to glare at him. What the hell? He just told me to blindly trust him and now he wants to know if I’ve been going around divulging information about my father, as though he’s trying to protect him.
“He didn’t mean it like that,” Ty reassures, giving Aiden yet another pointed look to shut the fuck up. “We just need to know what they know, so we can decide how best to handle the situation. I promise you, your father will know nothing about any of this.” He assures, looking me in the eye so I can be sure of the truth of what he says.
“I didn’t tell them anything…much. Nothing of significance about my father anyway. I needed them to finally believe I wasn’t involved in my father’s plans; that I wasn’t who they think I am.” I try to explain, “I only told them my own story. Told them where I’m from and how I ended up here. That’s it.”
“Why did you tell them who we were?” Asks Aiden, not snapping at me in his usual anger, but instead sounding genuinely curious.
Shaking my head, I don’t even know how to answer that. I don’t know why I told Preston and Barrett who they were, but I do know they seem to have the same agenda as I have – to find out what my father is up to.
“There’s something up with Charles. My father’s association with him seems to have triggered whatever their issue is with me. I think they just want to find out what’s going on as much as I do, they just had a shitty way of going about it.”
Not knowing what else to say, and the air heavy with everything that has been said already, the three of us drive in silence the rest of the way to the mansion, each of us caught up in our own thoughts.
Once again, they drop me off just out of sight of the gates. I don’t immediately get out though.
“Even though I totally had the situation handled, I do appreciate both of you coming to find me today,” I tell them with a small smile, looking first at Aiden before swinging my gaze to Tyler. “You had no idea what you were walking into, and yet you didn’t hesitate. No one has ever done anything like that for me.”