beautifully broken(32)

“I-I have to tell you something,” I say hesitantly. Her eyes narrow in on me.

“I told Chris that you knew about Cal from when you were younger,” I rattle off quickly. I expect her to become angry, to start screaming at me about how I betrayed her trust, but she doesn’t. She laughs and lets out a relieved sigh.

“Oh that’s it? It doesn’t matter really, not now anyway I guess,” she smiles, her blue eyes lighting back up.

“But other than spewing obscenities about me?” she asks with a dry chuckle.

“No, nothing other than that,” I say, feeling a little more than uncomfortable.

“Why doesn’t Cal like you?” I ask her bluntly and she seems a bit taken aback. “It’s just. It seems like there’s more to it than you spurning him in high school,” I admit.

She looks away from me her attention going back to the lone lemon in her water glass.

“There are things that Cal knows about me that. That Chris doesn’t,” she says hesitantly.

“What kind of things?” I ask her and a sad smile spreads across her face.

“… Things that I regret doing,” she pauses and I see tears well in her eyes.

“Things that could hurt a lot of people. Including Chris,” she chokes out.

“Cal…he knows these things?” I ask her hesitantly. She nods. More secrets.

“Here you go hon. Are you ready to order?” a waitress asks, interrupting the most awkward conversation ever.

“Whatever she’s having. Thank you,” I say and the waitress nods before scurrying away.

“I hope you like egg white omelet,” she jokes, while my heart is beating like a madwoman.

“If Cal knows whatever these things are, Chris can find out at any time Lisa. He’s starting to remember things and not only that right now there’s no way of knowing when Cal will come back. What type of things does he know?” I ask her urgently. "If Cal has something on Chris that can hurt him or put him in danger…”

“No, it’s nothing like that. It won’t put him in any danger or hurt him… physically,” she says, vehemently shaking her head.

“Lisa, you can tell me,” I say pleadingly.

“It’s better that I don’t tell you Lauren. Trust me. I told Aidan and he wishes he didn’t know,” she says, a smile on her face but a tear falling from her eye that she quickly wipes away.

“I asked you here because I’m going to tell Chris. I was going to tell him before all of this happened and I chickened out after talking to Cal and Aidan flipping out like he did... Now circumstances have changed where I don’t really have a choice. I just have to get my courage back up. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I was stupid…so stupid,” she says, tears flooding her face.

“Lisa it can’t be that bad. Whatever it is,” I say sitting next to her in the booth and pulling her into a hug.

“We all make mistakes. We all do things that I’m sure we wish we could take back,” I say, rubbing her back.

“I didn’t ask you here to feel sorry for me,” she chokes out. She pulls away from me and takes a deep breath.

“When I tell him Chris is going to need you Lauren. Like he never has before. Promise me you’ll be there for him. That you won’t let Cal destroy him.”



*



My head’s pounding. Lisa wouldn’t budge with any specific information. She’s going out of town for the next week to clear her head and when she comes back she’s going to tell Chris and I can’t help but feel like a huge anvil is going to drop. I don’t know how to prepare for it. To prepare Chris for it. We have so much to deal with already I almost wish that whatever the hell Lisa has to get off her chest she just swallows it until things return to normal, but I can’t ask her to do that. I can’t imagine holding something in like she is. Which is why I’m outside of Aidan’s door hoping he’s home. He hasn’t answered my first few knocks, so now I’ve proceeded to bang on the door.

“I’m coming. Shit!” I hear him yell. A few seconds later his door swings open and I feel my eyes widen.

“What the hell?!” he growls. What the hell are the right words! He’s wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs revealing his five star sculpted military body. He has two black tattoos wrapping around his large biceps and I have to rip my eyes up from his hard chest heaving up and down.

“Oh, Lauren. Is everything okay?” he says, his tone going from an angry growl to concerned. I nod, trying to member why I’m even here as his baby blue eyes stare into mine. God, Aidan is hot!