Deviation (A Defined Series Book 1) (20 page)

Jack

I pick up Edith today. To say I’m nervous as hell would be an understatement because I’ve decided to take things extra slow with her. I moved a lot of my stuff to the apartment downtown, asking Aiden to temporarily move into the house with her. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t the most painful thing I’ve ever done, but I think it’s for the best. I love our home, but she needs support and love right now, not me trying to jump her bones every chance I get because I’ve missed her so damn much.

Driving up to the center, I see her waiting out front, her suitcase on the ground next to her. She looks beautiful and strong and is, surprisingly, smiling. I pull up next to her, park, and get out of the car. I’m tentative to do anything rash, like grab her in my arms. Fleur reminded me to let her do things at her own pace, but I can’t help myself.

She looks at me. “Baby…” The words hang between us. Suddenly, she comes around the car, jumping up into my arms, ending any question I might have had about where we stand.

“Silly Jack. Like I was gonna stay mad at you for more than a week.” She scrunches her nose at me, which I find adorable, and I hold her tight, afraid this might be fleeting. Trust is a funny thing. I want to give it to her fully, but I feel uncertain.

“Baby, if I knew that, I would have picked you up a week ago.” She giggles and I lean back so I can look at her.

“Jack, I love you. I’ve always loved you. Now, take me home. I’m ready to get outta this place.” I couldn’t agree with her more. Edith’s lips meet mine in a soft pulsing of need, her tongue darting out to touch mine. Our mouths connect and meet in a duel of wet strokes.

I want this, but we need to wait. Groaning, I pull away. “Edith, sweetheart…”

“Oh, all right. Tell me the bad news in the car.” Edith pinches my chest and gets in the car, while I place her bag in the trunk.

When I get in the car, I turn to her. “It’s not exactly bad news, but I don’t want you take it the wrong way. I love you, but we’re both hurting, and trust is–”

“Jack, I blew it. You trusted me to come to you, but I tried doing it all on my own. I get that. We need to rebuild the trust.”

“Yes, which is why this is so hard for me to do.”

“Are you breaking up me?” Whispered, it sounds so ominous, but that’s not all what I’m doing.

“Shit. No. Is that what you’re thinking?” I look at her, seeing her watery eyes ready to burst.

“You said I wouldn’t like it.”

“I’m talking about me staying in the apartment, and Aiden moving in to keep you company while we work this all out. We don’t need to go back to old habits.”

“And Daniel?”

“Sam still has the No Contact order in place, and I have a list of his class schedule. He can’t come anywhere near you. You call the police and, boom, back in jail he goes.”

“And Aiden?”

“Actually, I asked him to move in more for him than you.” I see that Edith has no idea what went on between the two lovebirds and it’s not my story to tell…yet. However, if they don’t get their respective heads out of their asses, I will tell her and let Edith whip some sense into them.

“You’re a good boyfriend and a good friend. All those times I thought about hurting myself, I never wanted to hurt you in the process. You understand that, right?”

“I know that, sweetheart, but you scared the shit out of me. You can’t use sex, alcohol, or pills to distract from what you’re feeling anymore. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for bringing you to visit your mother. It was wrong and hurtful.”

“I get why you did it. I know I’m nothing like my parents because I’m choosing something different for my life.”

“That’s my girl. My fighter.”

Edith laughs coyly and, in a small voice, asks, “Does that mean you’ll reconsider and move back into the house?”

“Not until we’re ready.”

When Edith sticks her tongue out and makes a raspberry sound at me, I know we’re finally on the road to recovery.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Edith

The semester is passing quickly, January slowly slides into February, then February into March. April brings final exams and fittings for cap and gown. It’s been incredibly busy for all of us. Shelby has stopped calling Aiden, and is also avoiding answering my direct questions. If she’s not at the commencement ceremony in May, I plan to fly to Italy and kick her stubborn ass to get to the bottom of this.

Date nights with Jack leave me panting, making my panties wet. If he wants to drive me nuts and get me on the verge of mauling his ass each time I see him, he’s definitely succeeded. Last time we went on a date, I dry humped him against the wall of the elevator after begging him to take me to see the new hot movie everyone was talking about. I think they dubbed it a worldwide phenomenon. I won’t say we are anything like the main characters of the movie, but show me a lot of naked actors and I’m liable to do anything. I even threatened to go commando next time we went out. Jack knows I don’t have the balls to do it, but I’ve been contemplating it with all seriousness.

Driving up to the house is no balm for the torrent of emotions I feel. Each window glows with soft light, but I know the walls inside are empty because I let my foolish heart go. Jack continues to live at his apartment close to his office because he is no longer subletting, or maybe the realtor never got it going. I don’t ask. I know space is supposed to be beneficial for us right now, but I didn’t think it would suck so much. My only consolation is that Aiden is staying with me, so I’m not truly alone. I think Aiden needs me as much as I need him right now. 

Aiden’s beat up Mercedes sits in the driveway in the spot next to mine where Jack’s BMW should be. He sleeps downstairs in the office, which we converted into a spare bedroom. Aiden says he doesn’t mind, but I know his heart is hurting for his other half, the same as mine is. Nothing has gone right since I dropped the charges against Daniel, and blaming myself for the strife my non-related family is feeling makes sense. Shelby still hasn’t come back from Italy. I don’t know what’s happened, but she is an ocean away and no sarcastic ribbing on my part is going to bridge the gap of thousands of miles until she is ready to talk to me. I feel like my best friend and the person closest to me is hiding something. Last night, I overheard Aiden on the phone with her. He was the shortest I think I ever heard him be with another human being, which is saying a lot because Shelby really does have the capacity to piss people off with her carefree attitude. 

As the late spring sky darkens, I get out of the car and slam the door, jogging up the stone path to collect the mail. I grab the small stack of envelopes, thumbing through them. Most are addressed to Jack. I will either drop them off tomorrow or he will pick them up on Wednesday when he comes to take out the garbage bins so I don’t have to drag the heavy cans to the street. I know Aiden would happily do it, but Jack insists. It’s something about not being an absentee homeowner, but my hope is that he does it to see me. However, he usually times those visits for before I get home from class. The separation is awful, and I’m getting tired of waiting, but I don’t feel I can ask him when things will change. 

The mail is nothing more than a collection of various bills and credit card offers. However, one of them looks like a fancier envelope addressed to Jack. I turn it over and the return address is for London. From Jack’s cousins maybe? I know he has family over there…and an ex-girlfriend, who I definitely don’t want to know about. Walking into the house, I take the junk mail and tear them up, putting them in the silver garbage canister. I drop the invitation and bills on the counter. 

“Aiden, I’m home. You want to order takeout or FaceTime Shelby first?”

I putter around the kitchen, looking for the takeout menus we usually keep in the junk drawer. Pulling open drawers yields nothing, not even the usual random paperclips or batteries. Since Shelby left, Aiden’s been on this OCD cleaning spree. His coping skills are probably better than mine right now.

“Aiden! Yo, doc?! I hope you’re not wanking off in there!” As I walk towards the back of the house where the spare bedroom is, I feel the hair on the back of my neck rise. “Aiden?” I call out again and listen. I inhale and exhale, my heart rate racing wildly, the pumping as loud as a door slamming.

Catching a whiff of something, a warning signal blares through my body, and I quickly turn in time to deflect the large body coming at me.

“Fuck!” I yell as I’m slammed into the wall. Instinctively, I hunch over to protect itself as another painful blow lands, catching my shoulder.

“You fucking dirty cunt,” I hear as I slide to the floor, my breath shaky. I’m pretty sure my ribs are broken, and I can taste blood in my mouth.

“Daniel, you’re breaking the No Contact order.” I don’t know how I get the words out as calmly as I do because of the pain I’m in. The asshole kneels down to my level and grabs me by the hair, spitting in my face.

“How’s
that
for keeping my distance, bitch.”

He drags me further down the hallway and that’s when I see the door cracked open. Aiden is lying on his side on the floor. I don’t know if he’s dead or just hurt.

“Oh, Aiden…” The words slip from my lips, tears mixing with blood and stinging my face.

“It wasn’t bad enough you hooked up with the professor, but you had to fuck the
doctor
, too?” When he pulls me up to stand, a guttural sound emanates from my battered body.

“I never–”

Daniel shakes me hard, slamming me back against the wall, my head bouncing off it, a picture frame falling to the floor, the glass and metal frame shattering.

“Fucking liar is what you are. What they
all
are.”

He mumbles more unintelligible words as he drags me into the living room. My eyes scan for something, anything I can use to hit him with. However, unlike the first time, Jack is not at the door, ready to swoop in like a knight in shining armor to save me, and my only other hero is currently unconscious.

“What did you do to Aiden?” I ask as he pushes me to the floor between the heavy wooden coffee table and the pretty couch that had recently started to grow on me.

“I gave the doctor a taste of his own medicine.” Sheer terror courses through me. Daniel is fucking crazy. The girls at the rehab center had nothing on Daniel Munson.   

“What did you do to him?” I grapple with the table, struggling to get up, but Daniel kicks my hands away. I hear a pop and I scream, wondering if he broke a finger.

“I put a little something in his beverage while I waited for you, little bird.” Daniel sits down on the couch and leans back, almost looking pleased with himself. 

“You disgusting piece of shit,” I growl out. Aiden is probably dead because Daniel can’t take “no” for an answer. I picture myself trying to call Italy to tell Shelby this psychopath killed the love of her life while I just lay on the floor, doing nothing. Adrenaline courses through my body.

“You’re one to talk, Miss Trailer Trash. Did they give you an award, maybe a scholarship for being the most worthless whore to come out of Camden?” Daniel is taunting me, and it’s working. I struggle against the pain to stand up again. The anger, shame, and humiliation about where I came from and how hard I had to fight rears its ugly head within me.

“You’re calling
me
worthless? You’re the impotent, insecure little asshole who has to rape women to get what you want from them.” I say anything and everything that comes to mind. I watch his face heat a reddish-purple shade as I stumble backwards, my back hitting the wall. “Did your parents ignore you or something? Did your siblings and schoolmates pick on you? You’re a sad, sorry motherfucker, aren’t you?”

“Bitch!” he screams as he gives chase. I hobble into the kitchen, grabbing the cordless house phone in one hand, opening the utensil drawer with the other. Empty.

Smirking, Daniel stalks me around the kitchen island. “Looking for something? I took the pleasure of rearranging your drawers. Such a messy little bird you are.”

Pushing the button and putting the phone to my ear, I hear nothing.

“You see, I learned from the last encounter.”

I’m afraid to take my eyes off this man with wild hair and squirrelly eyes stalking me in my home. I spy the glass on the counter that Aiden must have used. It’s closer to me than it is to him, so I calculate my options. I have to get down the hallway to the front door because there is no doubt in my mind that he’s going to rape, then kill me.

“Apparently, you didn’t learn enough.”

I throw the phone at him, forcing him to catch it or be hit. I throw the glass of what looks like water at him, landing on the floor, making the stone tiles slick. I make a dash for the hallway, Daniel hot on my heels. My heart seems to slow down and thump which each step.
Thump. Step. Thump. Step. Thump. Step.
On the fourth step, I fall to the floor in the hallway where he had first thrown me against the wall.

“I’ll gut you, Edith.”

I scramble, trying to get up. He grabs my leg in a bruising grip and drags me down to the floor. I’m kicking and screaming, grabbing for anything to help me get away. I wish Jack was here. I wish I hadn’t been such a blasted pacifist and let Jack get a gun for the house. Flashes of happier days zip through my brain as Daniel’s hands claw at my legs, pulling me closer, his fingers like talons, tearing at me and bringing me closer to the end.

Screaming, I kick out again and try to get up, only to have him grab me again and pull. My head bangs against the floor a second time. I look up and see Aiden, prone and helpless, but I also spot a piece of the broken picture frame near my shoulder. Desperately trying to turn and roll away, I grab the broken piece and slash downward, missing. Screaming, I flail again, landing a blow across his face this time, cutting deep.

He releases me to cup his face. “Damn you! Damn you, bitch!” 

I kick my feet and push him away. Blood is gushing everywhere. I stagger up and back away, my lunch threatening to come up from the gruesome image burned into my eyes of his mangled face. I grab my bag, which had been just out of reach. Daniel is still howling like an animal, blood running down his face, as I run into the office and lock the door, then drag the desk and chair in front of it. Running to Aiden, I fall to the floor and check for a pulse like he taught me.

“Damn it, Aiden. Come on. I need you. Wake up.” I push and slap him. A thready pulse beats under his skin, but his color looks off. I reach for my bag, grabbing my phone; I slide my finger across the screen and dial 911.

“Hello, please help me. I’ve been attacked in my home and my friend is unresponsive. I think he may have been poisoned.” The woman on the phone tells me her name is Kim and to stay on the line, then tells me to stay where I am until police arrive.

I hear the front door slam open, making me jump. “Edith! “Edith!”
Jack
.

“I’m in the office. Jack, it’s Daniel. He’s out there.”

“Baby…” I can hear Jack outside the door, but the dispatcher tells me to stay put. I’m torn, but I listen. Sirens herald in the distance.

“Aiden, stay with me. Help is coming.” I lift his head into my lap and he begins to seize, vomiting all over my legs. A loud commotion starts outside the door. I hear Jack yelling, police yelling, then the door is being ripped open.