Tormented (Evolution Series Book 2) (12 page)

“Oh, no,” she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “He hasn’t told you, has he?”

I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t need to. Anna knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Their relationship was over before he met you,” she said. “And he was never as happy with her as he is with you. He loves you so much more than he ever loved her.”

“He loved her?” I said under my breath.

“No. I mean, yeah, he thought he did at the time, but… he was young. He didn’t really know what love was.” Anna was babbling. She had stuck her foot in it, and she didn’t know what to say, but I guessed she felt like she needed to make me stop feeling the way I was feeling.

“Look,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said anything, and I’m sorry. But the fact remains, he did have a thing with her, but it was a long time ago. And now he’s with you, and I’ve never seen him so happy. He loves you,
Jade,
so don’t let yourself worry about the past. You’re his future.”

Everyone had a past, including me. The problem was, his past would
always
be around, and to see her practically throwing herself at him as she did on the night I met her just made me feel sick to my stomach.

Anna suggested, “How about you go home? I know your size… and your lack of style.” She held up a plain white T-shirt bra. “And I’ll finish up here for you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I think it’s the least I can do. Now go on, get out of here.” She shooed me away with the bra in her hand.

I smiled. “Thanks.” I left the lingerie store and found a safe place away from any prying eyes. Once certain no one was watching
,
I transported back to Aiden’s bedroom.

“So I finally get to meet the girl who thinks my sister is a pro,” a voice said from behind me.

I whipped my head around to find a guy about my age, with dark brown, perfectly messy-on-purpose hair, stretched out on the sofa with his legs up on the coffee table. He, like every other guy in the house, was exceptionally good-looking. Ah, crap. My first meeting with one of Aiden’s friends, and he already had a grudge against me.

Lucas lifted his feet off the coffee table and planted them on the floor. His blue eyes were completely fixed on me, and I was preparing myself for the onslaught of verbal abuse I thought I was going to receive for saying that his twin sister looked like a prostitute.

Slowly, a smile began to spread across his face, lighting up his eyes in the process. “I had you worried there for a moment, didn’t I?” He laughed. “And don’t worry about the whole hooker thing. I tell her all the time she looks like one.”

I let out a breath that I hadn’t
realised
I had been holding. “I so thought you were going to have a go at me about it.”

He chuckled. “I know.”

Of course he knew. I so had to learn to block my damn thoughts.

“I see you two have met,” Aiden said, appearing beside me. He leaned down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Did you have fun with Anna?” He looked around the room. “Where are your bags?”

Damn. I had left them behind with Anna. Everyone went eerily quiet when I started thinking about the reason why I’d left Anna back in London.

“Umm…” Aiden turned to Lucas. “Do you mind if we pop out for a moment?”

Lucas stood up. “Actually, I think this is my cue to leave. I’ll be downstairs with Dad. Let me know when you’ve sorted this all out.” He then disappeared.

Aiden stood there awkwardly for a moment before saying, “I guess this is one of the things that I should’ve told you about earlier?”

I sat down on the end of his bed. “Ah… you think?” I laced my tone with sarcasm.

Aiden sat down beside me. “How much do you want to know?”

I thought about it. Did I really want to know the ins and outs of their relationship? No. “Just
give
me the basics.”

He took a deep breath. “We’ve known each other since we were babies. We started dating when we were fourteen, but it didn’t last that long. We broke up. My family came to Australia, and you know what happened from there.”

He said it as though it was no big deal, but his mother had said that he had loved Georgia. Aiden started laughing.

“What?” I asked.

“I was fourteen. What the hell did I know about love?”

I scoffed. “And most people would say that about us now.”

“Well, then they’d be wrong.” He pushed me back down onto the bed and planted a quick kiss on my lips. “You don’t have anything to worry yourself about with Georgia. She’s a right pain in the ass now.”

I looked into his eyes, and even though he was still blocking his thoughts because his parents were around, I knew he was telling the truth. “I just wished you’d told me before so I didn’t have to find out like that. You know I hate secrets.” Which was true, but the main reason I hated secrets was because I wasn’t able to keep any for myself. I was an open book to Aiden, and because of that, I expected the same courtesy.

“I’m sorry,” he said, tracing my lips with his finger. “Do you forgive me?”

I snapped at his finger with my teeth, and he pulled back just in time.

“Feisty today, aren’t you?” He already knew that I had forgiven him. How could I not? He was a guy, and guys always seemed to take the easy way out. They don’t over-
analyse
everything like girls do. They just keep everything as simple as possible for themselves. I propped myself up on my elbow. “I guess you better go tell Lucas he can come back.”

“He can wait a little bit longer.” Aiden put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. He leaned in and the moment his lips touched mine, a surge of those pleasure endorphins flowed through my veins. I pulled back, afraid that if I stayed lip-locked with him any longer, we would never make it out of the bedroom before nightfall.

Aiden rolled off me. “Fine. I’ll go get him.”

“I’m coming too,” I said, sitting up. “I want to see if Kai has found out who those people in the photo are.”

We ended up in the main lounge room when I transported us to Lucas. He was kicked back on the sofa, playing with his iPhone.
His dad, Nathan, sat beside him, engrossed in a conversation with Dave, who was perched in an armchair.

They all stopped talking immediately the second we appeared.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

There was a moment of silence before Dave said, “You really are paranoid, aren’t you?”

I was pretty sure in that
moment,
Dave and Nate were deciding what to tell me. And of course, everyone in the room knew that I didn’t believe them. God, why was my mind blocking ability one of the last things to come, when it was one of the abilities I wanted most?

“So you two have worked out the little thing?” Lucas asked, not taking his eyes off his phone.

Aiden walked over to the sofa and sat down beside him. “All sorted.”

“Where’s Anna?” I asked Dave.

“She’s in her study with Kai,” Dave responded casually.

“Have they found anything?” I asked.

Dave shook his head. “Not yet.”

Lucas looked up from his phone. “Why don’t you go join them?”

“I think I will.” I started edging back towards the door.

“You want me to come?” Aiden asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll catch up with you both soon.”

I had no idea where Anna’s study was, so I closed my eyes and thought of her instead.

“Hey, sweetie,” Anna greeted me when I appeared beside her. “Did you and Aiden get things sorted?” She was sitting in a chair that she had pulled up beside Kai.

“
Oooh
. Trouble in paradise, hey?” Kai teased.

Anna rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about him. He just likes to stir shit.”

“Oh, that hurt,”
Kai
said, clutching his hand over his heart.

I sat on the edge of the desk on the other side of Kai. “Have you found out who they are?” I asked, looking at the computer screen.

“Not yet.” When he saw my face drop with disappointment, he added, “Don’t worry, I’ll have a smile on that pretty little face of yours in no time.”

The confidence that exuded from him gave me the impression I would have some answers soon.

“Why don’t you, Aiden, and Lucas go watch a movie?” Anna suggested. “Kai should probably be done by the time the movie’s over.” She looked at Kai for confirmation of her timeframe.

Kai scoffed. “It won’t take me that long. I’ll probably have this figured out before you get the movie started.” His fingers were going a million miles per hour on the keyboard.

“Really?” I asked, not believing how fast he could find the identity of some complete unknowns.

He laughed.

“We told you he was a genius,” Anna said.

“Hey, hang on a sec.” Kai’s face turned serious, and his fingers came to a standstill. “I think I’ve got it.” He pointed at the computer screen. “Yep, got it.”

The people from the photograph I had found early that morning were on the screen. The image wasn’t the exact same photo, and the people were a little older, but I could still tell they were the same people.

“Who are they?” I asked, edging closer to get a better look.

“Just give me a sec,” Kai said. His fingers moved at a crazy speed over the keys again. “Bingo! Mr. Anthony Grey and Mrs. Elizabeth Grey. They live at 221
Hilcombe
Avenue, Perth, Australia.”

“Now, who’s the man?” Kai said, pointing at himself with both hands.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Anna said.

I laughed as Anna almost shoved him off his chair.

“Hey,” Kai said, rubbing at his arm.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Anna asked.

I didn’t
recognise
the names, but I had a gut feeling that those people would somehow hold the answers to some of my questions. “I guess I’ll have to pay them a visit.”

Anna nodded. “Just make sure you take Aiden along with you. We don’t know for sure that it isn’t someone messing with you.”

“Okay, I will,” I promised. “What time is it over there now?”

Kai’s fingers started flying over the keyboard again, then stopped abruptly. “It’s exactly seven forty-seven. And by the looks of that couple, you better wait ‘til morning. You know, people that age usually like to be in bed by seven. Isn’t that right, Anna? That’s about the time you like to nod off, huh?”

That time, she really did shove him off the chair. But before he could hit the ground, he was once again sitting in the chair.

“Nice reflexes,” I said, more as an observation than as a compliment to Kai.