Protecting Shaylee (The Fae Guard Book 1) (24 page)

“You better fix this, Aden. Not only will Fate and the council be pissed at you, but I’m going to kick your ass from one side of Rien to the other if I lose her friendship because you were too stupid to be upfront with her.”

I can’t help the small smile on my face knowing that Laila will always be my friend. I miss Brenna almost as much as my mother and aunt, but my time with Hayleigh and Laila have helped me settle into my life here.

Laila snorts in derision before responding to whatever Aden has said. “Yeah, good luck with that one, Aden. Shaylee isn’t a pushover and I don’t think your powers of seduction are going to help you. I’ll see you tomorrow when you’re limping from the kick to your balls
I’m sure
is coming your way.” She snaps the phone shut without waiting for a response and mutters something unintelligible.

She turns to walk back my way but stops when she sees me waiting there at the door. “Hi. Sorry about that. Please don’t be mad at me for warning him.” She comes forward apprehensively.

“It’s fine, Laila. Just because he knows to watch out for my ball shot, doesn’t mean he’ll be able to avoid it.”

Laila’s face washes with relief at my humor. As soon as she reaches me, she slings an arm through mine and we walk together out to the car. She stops me with a hand on my biceps as I go to walk around to the driver’s side.

“He really didn’t have to come back for you, Shaylee. My brother is an idiot, but he’s been in love with you since the moment he no longer looked at you like a child. He loved to tell stories about you as a child. Then one day, he didn’t say much at all anymore. But, I think each of us took a turn dragging it out of him because by the time you arrived, I felt like I already knew you.” She grasps me a little tighter and her voice persistent. “He’d made the choice to be with you before he knew you were fated. It just hadn’t truly registered in his mind. I swear it.”

I sigh, “But, we’ll never truly know that, will we Laila?” The hurt in my heart becomes sharp and knifes through me. Laila’s face falls and she steps back, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I love your brother. And, I’ll love him forever, but I don’t want to wait around and see if his love for me is born of this connection between or souls, or if it is a result of the connection between our hearts. He broke my heart, Laila. I don’t think I’d survive it a second time.”

Laila nods and without a word, gets into the car. On the ride home, I contemplate what I said, but I realize, I’ve sunk too deep. I know I’ll forgive Aden because I love him too much to let him go, until he leaves me. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to let him have it, though. I perk up a little at the thoughts of what I can do to make Aden suffer just a little bit. The little devil in me cackles.

DAMN IT ALL TOO fucking hell.

I run my hands through my hair for the twentieth time, gripping the roots and tugging so that the little pinpricks of pain take my focus off of the confrontation I know is about to happen.

That’s what you get for being a pussy.

I ignore the inner taunting in my mind as I pace back and forth in the living room, keeping my eyes trained on the door. I never meant to keep this from her for so long, and now, by not telling her, I’m sure she thinks that I held it back so I would not to have to confess that I wanted her simply because we were fated.

My thoughts are interrupted when the door to the apartment slams open, bouncing off the wall. Shaylee marches in, fury blazing in her beautiful eyes. The blue is so penetrating that I feel myself reacting—
seriously?
Get a fucking grip, dude.

Just as I open my mouth to speak . . .

“I don’t know why you didn’t tell me about being fated, Aden,” Shaylee cuts me off. “I don’t know why you felt that I wouldn’t be rational enough to consider the facts and trust that it only makes our love stronger. But, by not telling me, by omitting it, you’ve come perilously close to lying.” Her hands are gripping her hips and her voice is low, her tone deadly.
Ok, that’s better than hysterics, right?
Mad is better than hurt.
I think?

Her words hit me a little hard and I flinch. “Baby, that’s not what happened, I—”

“—Whatever, Aden. You weren’t going to come for me until you found out. You didn’t have an uncontrollable need to be with me, you weren’t consumed by your love for me, no—you were doing what was best for you. And isn’t that always your MO? To do what’s best for
you?
”

I know she’s hurt and angry, but her words piss me off and I can’t help jumping to correct her ludicrous assumption. “Shaylee, this convoluted reasoning you’ve conjured up couldn’t be further from the truth.” Apparently, my stupidity knows no bounds, because as soon as the words leave my mouth, I know they were the wrong thing to say.

“Convoluted?” she questions. At the look in her eyes, I take a step back, a little worried that she might open a grave under me, this time on purpose.

“Look, I shouldn’t have used that word. I just meant that you’re seeing the situation wrong.”

Shaylee scrutinizes me and for a moment, I think I see her becoming willing to finally listen to me, but then she stomps past me, headed for our bedroom. I don’t let her get far. I grab her arm and whirl her around, pinning her to my chest with my arms banded tightly around her.

“You can be as mad as you want, baby. But don’t be so petulant that you won’t even listen to what I have to say,” I demand. She scowls at me, but gives me a short, jerky nod of acceptance, then squirms a little trying to get out of my hold. “No, I think I’ll keep you right here, so you can’t run off without hearing my side of things.” Besides, all her wiggling rubs our bodies in all the right places and I can’t help feeling a little smug when I see the desire in her eyes as well. She rolls her eyes at me but stops pushing against my arms, since she knows she won’t be able to break my hold.

“You’re right; I hadn’t intended to come back to you.” Hurt flashes stronger on her face, before she schools her features into a flat expression. “I let myself believe that I’d imagined the connection between us—that it was just physical and it wouldn’t be right to give in to that when there was someone out there that you were fated with. When the council reassigned me to you, I realized what I’d overlooked before—it’s me. You were always meant to be mine.”

Shaylee’s eyes soften just the smallest amount and she looks down to hide it, but I can tell that she is listening intently. “Since the day my little Buttercup disappeared and a beautiful, grown up woman appeared, I’ve been addicted to you. To be fated with you just gave me permission to accept what I was feeling for you. To allow myself to give in to what I knew deep down—that I was—that I am, completely in love with you.”

To my relief, I can see that my words are having at least some effect on her. However, hurt is still swimming in the blue depths of her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Honestly, I was afraid of how you would react and I wanted you to fall in love with me first, so that you couldn’t just walk away. I admit, I wasn’t giving you enough credit. I wasn’t thinking about the Shaylee I really know, the one who would listen and consider the situation before reacting to it.” I lower my forehead to hers and close my eyes, sighing. “I don’t know what the hell I was doing, baby. I was just terrified that, for some reason, I would lose you. I meant to tell you so many times, but we’ve been so happy and content, I couldn’t bring myself to disturb it with the unknown.”

I drop a soft kiss on her lips and despite the fact the she doesn’t respond, I feel hope that she didn’t turn away from it. “Can you try and step back, look at this as if I’d told you right from the beginning?”

Her head drops and she lays her cheek on my chest, just over my heart. After a deep breath she sighs. “I can’t forget, but I know I’ll forgive you. I’m just not ready right now, Aden. I need some time to process all of this. Every time I start to think I’ve got a grip on this new life, something else drops in my lap and takes me back. Two steps forward and one step back.” She pushes against me a little and, this time, I let her go. Her eyes are tired with dark circles ringing them—she’s exhausted.

I kept her up for most of the night, but she looks as though she hasn’t slept in days. I put my hands around her neck and use my thumbs to lift her chin so that I can study her face. “Baby, are you alright? You look like you’re about to fall off of your feet.”

Shaylee shrugs, her hands fluttering around before returning to hang at her sides. “I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well while you were gone.”

I carefully suppress any smugness from my voice but I can’t help asking, “You missed me?” I slept like shit without her.

As I watch her, she seems to droop, like the world is pulling her down. “Yes, but mostly I just had terrible nightmares and when I woke, I couldn’t go back to sleep. Look, I’m going to go take a hot bath and lie down for a while. I need to be alone,” she adds quickly. Evidently, she knew I was about to ask if she wanted company.

Now, it’s me drooping. She’d said she would forgive me, but I can’t help feeling defeated, knowing she is hurting and wondering how long it will be before she lets me in again. I reach for her and she allows me to place a soft kiss on her forehead. Then she turns and makes her way down the hall.

When the sun begins to descend, I crack open our bedroom door and walk in softly to avoid waking Shaylee, who is sleeping on her stomach, her head facing me. After our argument, I figured she would sleep in her pajamas and I’d prepared myself to sleep without her warm, naked body snuggled up next to mine. But, she looks as though she simply collapsed and passed out on the bed after her bath, not even bothering to remove her towel.

I pad over to her and remove the damp towel as carefully as I can, so as not to disturb her. Quickly, I strip out of my clothes and go to my side of the bed, slip under the covers and gently pull Shaylee into my arms, before drawing the covers over her as well. With her warmth seeping into mine, I sigh in contentment, and let myself succumb to sleep.

My eyes fly open at the awful sound emanating from behind the bathroom door. I sit up, noticing that Shaylee’s side of the bed is empty and I hurry to see if she’s all right. She’s lying, curled up on the floor, in front of the small room, housing one of the toilets, her forehead resting on the cool marble below her.

Kneeling down, I feel to see if she has a fever, but her skin is cool and a little clammy. I stand back up, grab a cloth and dampen it with slightly cool water. Returning to the floor next to her, I turn her face and wipe it tenderly before placing it on the back of her neck.

“Are you all right? Can I get you anything, baby?” I ask as I rub her back softly.

“No,” her voice is subdued and weary, as though even that one word took too much effort. After a moment, she sits up and carefully crawls into my lap, wrapping my arms around her and practically burrowing into me.

“Are you feeling better?” Her head bumps my chin when she nods. “Want to get back into bed?” Same response.

I anchor my arms under her and lift as I get back onto my feet. I sit her on the counter by the sink and keep her upright while I put toothpaste on her toothbrush and hand it to her. She lazily brushes her teeth and when she’s done, I lift her back into my arms. Back in the bedroom, I softly lay her down, then climb into bed and cuddle up next to her, spooning with her back right up against my front. A glance back at the clock tells me it’s just after 6am, so I snuggle her in a little deeper and go back to sleep for a couple of hours.