He wanted me to work out. He wanted me to be involved in a gym, and be a normal human being.
The only problem was, I couldn’t.
I physically couldn’t go to the gym. Going to the gym caused me to throw my heart rate out of whack, and I couldn’t fucking do that and not pay the consequences.
Meaning, no gym. No running. No physical activity of any kind whatsoever, unless I wanted to pass out afterward.
Though, my father didn’t understand that.
He thought I was just a little bitch about the gym.
I wasn’t.
But with his inability to trust modern medicine, and his lack of trust in me, well, I was doomed to fail in his eyes.
I set my left-handed milks on the ground, ignored his rude words, and then used my free hand to help lift my right hand up. Once I had those on the belt, I bent over just in time to see Aodhan lifting the two milk jugs up with two fingers.
The show-off.
“Have you lost weight?” Lizzie asked.
I nearly glared at her.
She damn well knew I hadn’t lost weight.
“Thank you,” I said stiffly, feeling my face heat.
Oh, shit.
“No problem,” Aodhan smiled. “Your dad and I were just catching up.”
I shrugged and smiled at the lady behind the checkout. She was checking Aodhan out.
I cleared my throat and said, “I’m so sorry, but I’m in a bit of a bind. I’ll have a full-on riot at the coffee shop if I don’t hurry.”
She jumped, then smiled at me apologetically as she rang me up.
The total came up to twice what I would’ve paid with my supplier, but I ignored that and held my watch up to the panel, paying wirelessly.
“What have I told you about using that method of payment?” my dad growled.
I ignored him, smiled, then reached for my milks.
“Thank you,” I said as I did.
Only, when I went to reach for my milks, the only ones that weren’t in Aodhan’s clutches were two.
“Uhh,” I said, feeling the sweat break out even more.
“You look a little flushed, dear,” Lizzie said as I got close to her.
I knew I did.
Actually, my heart was racing, my head was pounding, and I knew I had a very limited time to sit down.
In fact, I had about two minutes to calm myself down, or I’d be out on the parking lot asphalt.
I hurried to my car, feeling the knowledge start to creep into my veins.
My vision started to go black when I got the trunk open.
I swallowed hard past the bile, dropped the two milks unceremoniously into the back of my car, and then promptly passed out.
Dammit. Wrong again.
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
That deep, rumbly voice was like music to my soul.
I opened my eyes to find Aodhan staring at me with concern in his smoky-gray eyes.
I blinked at him, feeling my muscles twitch underneath me.
“She’s faking,” I heard my father say.
“All due respect, sir,” Aodhan said stiffly, “she’s not.”
I wasn’t.
I never was.
But my father didn’t like to admit that he’d created an imperfect child.
“She is,” my dad argued.
“She’s not,” Aodhan replied back. “How about you go? Give us some space.”
God, I hoped that we weren’t on the ground.
I was wearing white pants.
I blinked, trying to get a gauge on my surroundings.
“We’re on the bench outside the superstore,” he informed me, guessing as to what I was thinking.
Since my brain wasn’t all the way online yet, I didn’t nod or reply, but he understood my reaction anyway.
“The only people to see you pass out were me and your parents,” he explained.
I felt an irrational surge of anger at the thought of my so-called “parents.”
“Still not getting along with them, I see,” he drawled.
Biggest understatement of the year.
He twirled his fingers around a long lock of hair, wrapping it around his finger like he used to do.
A memory assaulted me out of nowhere.
• • •
“I just want to touch your hair,” Aodhan whispered.
I felt the butterflies once again take flight in my belly.
Aodhan and I were new.
As in, a few days new.
He’d asked me to be his girlfriend just two days ago, and I’d immediately doubted his sincerity.
At first, I’d thought he was playing a joke on me.
I mean, why would Aodhan want to date me? I was nothing special.
But he was persistent, and it’d taken him a week to finally get me to say yes.
Now, we were official, and I guess if he wanted to touch my hair, he could.
I leaned my head slightly to the left, allowing my long, silken locks to trail over his fingers, and he wasted no time burying said fingers into my hair.
At first, all he did was run his fingers through it.
But then, he started to wind a perfect curl around his finger, twirling and twirling and twirling.
He played with my hair for the entire movie, and the longer the movie went on, the more he’d wind his finger, reeling me in closer and closer until eventually I was pressed fully against his side.
It was the best day of my life.
• • •
“Let go of my hair,” I rasped.
His eyes looked stricken after I asked, and I closed them as I tried to struggle to sit up.
He helped me, once again using his big body to help prop me up.
But this time, I struggled straight to my feet, feeling my limbs come back online one by one.
“Whoa,” he said as he stood with me. “You shouldn’t be moving so fast just yet.”
I avoided his fingers and his attempt to get me to stay, and said, “I really have to go.”
I looked at my watch and groaned.
I had five minutes to get to the shop before the morning rush started.
“Are you sure you should be leaving?” Aodhan asked, sounding off.
I took a few tester steps, knowing that if I stayed, things would get bad again.
That was just the way it was with me. There was no limit to how many episodes I could have.
But if I could get to my shop, deliver the milk, and get a seat…well then I might be able to make it through the rest of the day.
I smiled at him sadly as I said, “Thank you again, Aodhan.”
With that, I pulled my keys out of my pocket, got into my car that was only a few steps away, and prayed that I was recovered enough to drive.
How does one like me drive, you ask?
Because when I’m sitting down, I don’t pass out.
Ever.
Which is really freakin’ weird, but it is what it is.
That’s how I warranted getting a driver’s license and staying on the road.
I could also read that question on Aodhan’s face, as if he wasn’t quite sure he should let me go.
Well, before he could answer that question rolling around in his brain, I started my car and backed out of my spot.
I didn’t look back.
There was no point.
My past was my past, and it needed to stay there for my sanity.
CHAPTER 4
We go together like fuck and you.
-Aodhan to Morrigan