Authors: Kelly Carrero
I heard the clank of something hitting the steel tray, then he turned around. “I think maybe I should take some of your blood to see if it’s the same as the last time.” He nodded at Aiden. “And I also think I should test yours as well.”
Crap. Two needles.
“Yeah, sure,” Aiden said.
“Do you think Aiden’s been drugged as well?” I asked.
Harry shrugged. “Not sure. But I think it would be wise if we knew for sure.”
“I guess.”
“Who’s first?”
I quickly pointed at Aiden. “He can go first.”
Aiden smiled. “Thanks.” He held out his arm and watched as Harry tied the rubbery thing around it and dabbed an alcohol wipe on the inside of his elbow. As soon as I saw Harry reach for the needle, I turned my head away.
A few seconds later, I heard the needle drop on the tray, and Harry said, “All done.”
“Your turn now.” Aiden put his arm around my shoulders and sent some calming endorphins my way. He didn’t skimp on them, either. “Is that better?”
“Much,” I said as I laid my head against his shoulder.
Harry picked up my arm, did his prep work, then injected the needle. I barely felt a prick. “Thanks,” I whispered into Aiden’s ear.
He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
“One down, one to go.” Harry stuck another needle in and injected the antidote. “All done,” he said a couple of seconds later as he swiped a cotton ball over my skin. “I should have the results this afternoon if you want to pop back then.”
I watched as the holes closed up, leaving nothing but a smudge of blood as evidence. “Yep. Sure.” I figured Aiden wasn’t eager to see Harry again so soon, but he just had to get over it. We needed Harry, and there was no one else we knew that could fill his shoes. I just hoped that Harry was someone we wouldn’t regret trusting.
Aiden and I transported back to the lounge, where we found Chelsea and Grandma looking cosy as they talked about some of the things we’d got up to as we grew up.
I said, “Hope she hasn’t bored you too much, Grandma.”
“Not at all,” Grandma said with the smile that never seemed to leave her face.
I caught Aiden’s arm as he started walking toward the sofa. “Can we talk for a second?”
He drew his eyebrows together. “Ah, yeah, sure.”
I smiled at Chelsea, my mother, and Grandma. “We won’t be long.”
I took Aiden’s hand and led him outside. The air was cool, but I no longer
felt
cold. I guessed Dave had been right that I would one day adjust my mind to no longer think about what was expected of a normal human. We walked down the steps and along the side of the pool.
He sat down on the garden retaining wall. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”
I stood in front of him, wishing I could see inside his head so I didn’t need to ask the question, but the antidote hadn’t kicked in yet. “What was up with you and Harry?”
“What do you mean?” Aiden asked.
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Fine. Why the cold treatment toward Harry?”
“I wasn’t giving him any cold treatment.”
I laughed. “You barely said two words to the guy. And when you did say something, it was short and cold.”
Aiden looked down at the floor. “I don’t know why.”
I moved in between his legs and lifted his chin so I could see his eyes. “Tell me,” I said softly.
“I don’t know why.”
“It’s what Gemma said, isn’t it?”
He tried to look down again, but I wouldn’t let him. “Yeah, okay. It is.”
I frowned. “You’ve never had a problem when anyone tried to cause trouble before, so why now?”
“Maybe it’s because I feel that something’s changed. And I don’t just mean you taking my love for you away. I mean, how you act towards me.”
“I don’t act any different.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Jade.”
I sighed.
“Fine. It’s because I’m afraid. I’m scared you won’t fall in love with me again. And I don’t want to get hurt.”
“So you’re putting up a wall instead.”
“Have you been watching
Dr. Phil
with Chelsea?”
Aiden scrunched up his face.
“What?”
I shook my head
. “Nothing. She said almost the exact same thing to me this morning when you went back to England.”
“Good.”
He put his hands on my hips and pulled me closer.
“Now maybe you’ll give us a chance. No more walls?”
“No more walls.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I’m not letting go of you that easily.”
“And I’m not giving up on us that easily.”
He kissed me, sending my stomach into a quivering mess.
All I wanted to do was show him how much I loved him, but I didn’t think my mother’s backyard was such a good place for that.
“Maybe we should go inside.”
“Maybe.”
He kissed me again, making me forget what it was he had just agreed to.
A sudden pain shot through my skull, bringing me out of my love-induced state. I buried my head in my hands, praying the pain would soon stop.
“It’s happening, isn’t it?”
Unable to speak, I nodded, but even that small motion was almost unbearable.
Aiden turned me around, pulled me onto his lap, and wrapped his arms around me.
The implosion began, and just like that, I could hear Aiden’s thoughts again. I dropped my hands away from my head.
“Did it work?”
“Yep. It worked,”
I said with relief.
“So I guess now is the time to go find out what your mum knows and doesn’t know about Nathan.”
I sighed. I didn’t want to find out the truth, because if I found out she had known about him all that time, then I didn’t know how I would trust her ever again.
“Come on,” Aiden said, standing up and putting me on my feet.
“Okay.”
We walked up to the house and into the lounge room.
As soon as Grandma saw us, she said, “I’m sorry dear, but I need to go have a shower.” She stood up. “So many things for me to do today.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “We can catch up some more later?”
“Definitely.” She strolled toward her room.
“You did that, didn’t you?”
Aiden asked.
“I didn’t want her around while I’m trying to figure out Mum.”
I sat on the couch beside Chelsea. Aiden took the seat on the other side of me.
“So, Mum,” I said, “how did the lunch thing go after I left?”
She looked at me strangely, wondering if I was just making small talk or if I really wanted to know. “There wasn’t really much of a lunch after we realised you had disappeared and weren’t coming back.” She paused, waiting for me to say something. When I kept quiet, she continued. “We were all wondering why you left without saying anything and where you’d gone. And then Chelsea disappeared, too. I’m sure Aiden’s already filled you in, hasn’t he?”
“Um, yeah.” Okay, so it wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped. I had to go inside her head and see for myself. Slowly, I pushed my way into her mind. Her thoughts were a jumbled-up mess. Pieces of information were missing all over the place, and there was no trace of who had been in there and screwed with her brain. I couldn’t find anything that led me to believe she had knowledge that Nathan was “Adam.”
“Are you okay?” Mum asked.
She thought I was acting really strange just sitting there and staring at her. When I looked at myself through her eyes, I did look weird. I had no idea what to look for in her mind, and I didn’t know where to start. There were too many blank holes. She had definitely been tampered with, but by whom?
“Jade?” Mum asked, getting even more concerned.
I pretended to shake my thoughts away. “Sorry, just thinking.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because you don’t look okay.”
“I’m fine, really.” I put on a smile, hoping that would appease her. “I was thinking, since I kind of ruined the last time we all got together, that maybe you can come over to the UK for dinner tonight, which will be your lunch… I think.”
“Yep, it’ll be your lunch time,” Aiden said to Mum.
“Do you think your parents will mind?”
I asked Aiden
.
“Of course they won’t.”
Gemma walked in with her bag slung over her shoulder. I always thought she exuded confidence, but her thoughts were anything but. She felt intimidated by me. “Hope you’re here when I get home.” She winked at Aiden, who just sat there dumbfounded by her directness.
A few minutes ago, I would’ve said something to wipe that grin off her face, but I didn’t know the truth then. Inside, she was hurting. She felt as though she had been robbed of her childhood because everything was always about me. Everyone was always trying so hard to protect me, and she felt forgotten. But that grin of hers never faltered.
“She’s unbelievable,” Chelsea said when Gemma walked out the front door.
“I know.” I agreed only because it was expected of me.
Mum knew a portion of the pain Gemma had to live with, and that was why she wanted so badly for us to get along. She didn’t think it was right for her to tell me Gemma’s sorrows, and she hoped that if we could get along, maybe I’d see Gemma for more than the bratty kid she portrayed herself to be.
“So, Mum,” I said, “can I tell Anna to expect all you guys?”
“Everyone?” Mum asked.
“Everyone’s welcome,” Aiden said.
“You can always leave your delightful child at home if you want to,” Chelsea said with a smirk to rival Gemma’s.
“Chelsea,” Mum warned.
“I was kidding,” she said, although we all knew she wasn’t.
Mum turned to me. “I’ll have to check with the others, but I’ll be there.”
“Great.” I then planted a suggestion in her mind to make sure Grandma wouldn’t come along. I wanted to keep her as far away from Nathan as possible.
Chapter 12
When we got back to England, Aiden left Chelsea and me in our bedroom while he went to find Anna to tell her we were having my mum and her other family over for dinner. He was also going to ask her to call Kai and Nathan to join us. I didn’t think there was much chance that Nathan wouldn’t join us. He wouldn’t miss the opportunity to have my mother and me in the same room.
“So does this mean Georgia’s going to be at this dinner thing, too?” Chelsea asked.
I shrugged. “I would like to think not, but going by past get-togethers, I’m going to say probably.”
“Great,” she said sarcastically.
“I know.” I pretended to agree, but truthfully, I wanted Georgia there. Hell, I wanted everyone I knew there so I could watch and listen to how they interacted with one another. I needed to find out who had been lying to me. Who had been faithful? And who I could trust? Mostly, I just hoped that everyone was a victim of Nathan’s sick game.
“So what do you want to do ’til this dinner thing starts?” Chelsea sat cross-legged on my bed, looking bored.
“How about we go play a game of pool?” I asked, heading for the door.
She laughed. “I suck at pool.”
“So do I, but who cares?”
Chelsea crawled off the bed. “Fine.”
I transported us downstairs to the pool room. As soon as I turned on the lights, my eyes went directly to the coffee table, where I had received the present from Nathan that contained my grandmother’s kidney.
I put my arm around Chelsea’s shoulders and turned her toward the pool table. “Come on.”
“Sorry,” she said, trying to put the image of what had been inside that box to the back of her mind. “I should be the one telling you it’s okay, not the other way around.”
“Don’t be silly. Unfortunately, I think I’m starting to grow accustomed to such things,” I lied. She didn’t need to know just how much Nathan was freaking me out, especially with his last threat of taking Chelsea’s life if I didn’t play his little game.
I chose two pool cues from the stand and handed one to her. “Do you know how to rack the balls?”
She laughed. “Not a friggin’ clue.”
“Great,” I said, looking at the balls spread out on the table. “That makes two of us.” I picked up the triangle, put it down one end of the table, and shoved the balls inside in no particular order. “You go first.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Where are you?”
Aiden asked.
“In the pool room, trying to play pool.”
Aiden appeared with Lucas as Chelsea tried to hit the white ball with her stick but ended up hitting the felt instead.
“Easy,” Aiden said.
Chelsea’s face went bright red. “I told you I can’t play,” she said to me.
Lucas walked over to her. “But you can learn.”
We spent the next hour learning how to play, and by the end of it, Chelsea was actually hitting the ball and knew how to set up the table. I, on the other hand, had practically mastered the game. The door swung open just as Aiden was taking his shot, but of course, he didn’t miss.
“Hi, kids,” Anna said as she made her way over to the table. “I was just coming to tell you guys that we’ll be having dinner at nine.”
“Nine?” Aiden asked in surprise.
“If we have it any sooner, it will be too early for Nikki and the others,” she explained. “So you might want to go grab something now to hold you over until dinner.”
“Sure thing,” Lucas said.
He was much like Aiden when it came to food. I was normally the same, but since Nathan’s sick game had started, I barely ate a thing. And when I did, I usually ended up throwing it back up.
Anna turned to leave. “I’ll leave you guys to it then.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?” I asked, feeling bad for not doing a damned thing when it was my mother’s family coming for dinner.
“Don’t be silly,” she said, waving me off. “You know I love to do these sorts of things.”
“You?” Aiden said. “Don’t you mean Bernard?”
“But I’ll be helping him,” Anna said.
Aiden laughed. “Right.”
“Well, I better get back to him then.” She left before Aiden could say anything else.