She got to the bedroom, sat on the couch, and waited for Aidan to come into the room. He was going to come in there, of that, she had no doubt, but would she be crazy out of her mind by then? Maybe.
He entered the room slowly, and he'd picked up her clothes and put his pants back on. Did he think having his chest out was going to soften the blow? She hoped he didn't think she was that shallow.
"I'm ready to listen, Aidan. What happened?"
"I got to the warehouse ready to give your cousin the bracelet he requested when a guy named Crowbar-"
"Who the hell is that?" She couldn't help but interrupt.
"He's the guy they sent as a backup when my company didn't think I was doing my job fast enough."
Aidan was looking into her eyes, and she knew that he wanted her to believe what he was saying.
"Then what, Aidan, I am trying to hold it together, but I can't pull this shit out of you. Open your fucking mouth and tell me what happened." It felt like there wasn't enough air in the room, but she kept trying to control her breathing so she could remain in control and not lose herself. She prayed that he was not going to tell her anything too crazy.
"Crowbar found me because they have a tracker on my motorcycle that I didn't know about, and after a few words … " He looked like he wanted to stop there, and she realized that she was so tense that her jaw was clenched. She tried to relax herself, but it just wasn't working.
"What!!!! Damn it!" She stood up, and he stood with her. He gathered her in his arms and took a deep breath with his face against her hair.
"Lucca's gone." He said it so softly she wondered if she heard him wrong or maybe he meant something else. Something other than what she was thinking.
"Gone?"
"Lucca and Crowbar shot each other, and they're both dead." He pulled away from her and looked her in the eye.
She pushed him so hard he fell back on the chair. "You killed Lucca?" It sounded like there was an ocean in her ears, and she could only see his mouth moving, but she knew that life as she knew it had changed. She had to get away from him, but she didn't know where to go. Time to think … that's what she needed but the way he was following her talking she didn't think she was going to have that time. Zeroing in on the bathroom, she went in and slammed the door locking it.
The beautiful bathroom was something that she raved about in her mind every time she entered, but it all seemed dull and drab now. The Jacuzzi sized tub was empty and looked like a good place to sit and think. She pulled her knees into her chest and tried not to come apart. How could she not have known that Lucca was dead? There should have been something in the atmosphere that would have changed that would have alerted her that something so deeply meaningful to her was gone. GONE.
Her Lucca was gone. She had three younger brothers, and they were great but no one looked out for her like Lucca. There were times she knew that he didn't understand her or the way she hated violence, the way she tried to avoid her family and the tales she told so no one would know who she was, but he loved her anyway … protected her anyway. He was the one constant that she could count on in her life, and now he was gone. It felt like the moon should have stopped shining and the stars should have shut off. Nothing was right … nothing and the guy she'd been sleeping with and giving her heart and soul to had taken him from her.
She heard the knock on the door, and she didn't know how she would ever face him again. Violence beget violence, and she never understood why … until now. Her father would be proud of the hatred and brimstone that seemed to be bubbling in her veins. She didn't know what she should do, but getting away from this love haven she'd set up with the devil would have to be the first thing she changed.
There was a phone in the bathroom, and she knew it was a secure line. To think she thought it was humorous when they described this feature to her. Who the hell needed a phone with private access in the damn bathroom? Who needed it? She did … right now.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Aidan didn't know what to do. He knew she would be livid. Just like he knew she was going to think he had killed Lucca himself. Once she heard her cousin was dead, it was like a switch went off, and he didn't think she even heard anything after that. She made this noise that sounded like she was screaming inside her mouth, and there was nothing he wanted to do more in that moment than to comfort her, but she wouldn't stay still long enough for him to catch up with her.
When she locked herself inside the bathroom, he didn't know what she was planning to do. The screaming that she was muffling in her mouth turned into full blown screams and crying a few minutes after she closed the door. He didn't think she'd hurt herself, but the thought did cross his mind. In the time that he'd known her, he'd learned how special Lucca was to her and sometimes he would cringe just thinking that he was going to end the man's life for a job. Death happened. Sometimes to the most deserving people, but when you did it for hire, you didn't even have a problem with the person. It was just business. Before now that was just fine by him, but now he didn't know how he felt about it.
Sitting by the door of the bathroom made him feel helpless. He'd knocked a few times when she got quiet and told her if she didn't say anything he was going to call the police. Both times she threw something at the door. At least she was okay even if she apparently wasn't talking to him.
After a few hours the door opened, and he wasn't sure if he was going to be good or bad, but when he finally saw her face he knew the end result wasn't going to be the one he was hoping for.
"I've called my father's people, and they are coming to pick me up." She didn't even look him in the face as she said it. It was like she was a robot, and all her emotions were shut down. He understood that, but he wished she would just hear him out.
"How long until they're here?" He took a step toward her, and she moved around him to start loading up all her items.
"They should be here shortly so I don't think you should stay. If they know what happened, and I know that they do, this night will be your last."
"I was trying to explain myself when you went into the bathroom, but I don't think you could hear me. My side of this story has to be told. I don't care what your family thinks or what my company thinks, but I want you to know the truth."
She was normally a methodical neat freak who liked everything in its place, but now she was throwing things into bags randomly. He moved to sit next to the suitcase where she was tossing everything when she suddenly stopped.
"I don't really care about your truth because the truth won't bring my Lucca back. You and the people you set yourself up with killed off one of the best human beings I've ever known. I can't even look at you without knowing that if you didn't enter my life, I may have my cousin back. All my life I've tried to live a nonviolent and normal life because I didn't understand how people could want to harm other people." She stopped to look up at him finally, but when she did he wished she hadn't. There was a fierce disgust in her face, and it was like he was a child again back in foster care. She wished he was never born just like everyone else he'd ever run across that he took time to know.
"I know that, Lorna," he said quietly because he knew that hurt people … hurt other people, and he was definitely the target for her wrath.
"But did you know that you've helped me understand it all. My father and his boys, my cousin and his underlings … they all have rage. It burns inside of them leaving a path that desires to be filled with ugly things … like revenge, destruction, and hate. I feel that now … I understand that now, and I'm praying that it won't over take me. I want you dead … in this moment if I had a gun, there wouldn't have been a question that you would have taken your last breath on the same night as your victim."
She looked so sad as she explained her feelings to him, and he'd never heard it put that way. It wasn't like he didn't know what she was talking about. He lived his life with that feeling, and until he met her, he didn't know how it felt to be without the monster that lived within him. That thing that made him want to fight, destroy, and fuck anything and everything that had a wet pussy and was willing. Lorna soothed that beast in him, but in turn he made her take on the ugly dragon that ruled his world. He'd destroyed her, and just like he couldn't bring Lucca back, he wasn't going to be able to fix the fury that beat within her heart.