Aidan (Devil's Stepbrothers MC)(27)

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.