Heart of Stone (20 page)

“No,” Aidan answers then knocks back the rest
of his drink.

My gaze shifts to Aidan. Something feels
wrong - very wrong. Frown lines dominate his gorgeous forehead – he
looks rueful, his normally intent vibrant eyes look troubled as a
shadow passes across his face. My heart races, my belly sinks with
a foreboding sense that causes a lump of panic to lodge painfully
in my throat.

“Is something wrong Aidan?” My tone is
quietly apprehensive.

“I can’t do this,” he says in a flat
tone.

“Can’t do this?” I ask confused for a moment
but as I stare at Aidan, his expression somber I tremble as ice
fills my veins, chilling my blood to an unbearable coldness.

“Yes. Gabriella, I’m sorry, I can’t do
this.”

“Can’t do what?” I ask, my voice just as flat
as his, but deep down inside me I already know.

Aidan’s eyes cut to mine, they are hard,
unyielding and his lips are set in a thin firm line as a muscle
ticks in the side of his jaw. It takes all my strength but I sit
forcing my face to stay impassive, my whole body tense and locked
solid with the exception of my hands. My fingers are the only part
of my body I allow to move. I brutally dig my fingernails into the
soft tender flesh of my palms, pressing painfully hard that it’s a
wonder I’m not drawing blood.

“I’ve been sitting here for hours thinking of
a way to gently break this to you but there is no easy way. I’m
sorry Gabriella. I thought I could do this with you… but I can’t.”
Aidan uncrosses his legs shifting them to the ground as he rests
his forearms on his knees.

“You’re sorry.” It’s not a question but a
statement that I parrot coldly.

“Yes… I’m sorry,” he sighs loudly. Taking a
deep breath he continues, “I thought I could make it work with you
but the truth is Gabriella I’m not relationship material. The last
thing I want to do is hurt you but dating, relationships… well they
just don’t fit into my lifestyle. I told you once before that it
was something I am incapable of. It will be better for both of us
if I end this now before…” He trails off but I hear his meaning
loud and clear. Before I fall in love with him is what he means.
Too late for that I ironically think to myself.

It’s hard to believe that only a few short
hours ago this aloof detached man that sits before me was making
passionate fervent love to me. Images of the last month flash
rapidly through my mind – Aidan calling me baby, Aidan making love
to me, every single passionate kiss between us, every whispered
word and every touch.

A crippling soul crushing feeling takes root
deep within my belly as my cruelest fear is realized – I’m not
enough for a man like Aidan. I was never enough for him. He is so
far out of my league I might as well be in another fucking
galaxy.

“Of course you still have your job at the
Stone Corporation – that won’t change. We are both adults so I’m
sure we can still work together on a professional level. Besides I
very rarely have interaction with that division of the company so I
don’t foresee any difficulties there.”

“Difficulties,” I echo numbly.

“Yes I’m sure we can both behave amicably
towards one another in the future when our paths cross on those
rare occasions.”

His tone is detached, clinical and I stare at
him in stunned belief at the audacity of his words. He’s talking to
me as if I am a business transaction once again rather than a
girlfriend that he’s dumping.

“Rare occasions,” I quietly repeat as a
chilling wave of nausea rolls through my stomach.

Does he really think I give a shit about my
job? My God, I couldn’t care less about it. It’s Him I care about
not some fucking job!

A small hysterical giggle bubbles up out of
my mouth and Aidan stares incredulously at me. Swallowing the bile
that rises in my throat I choke back a silent sob increasing the
painful grip on my palms with my nails.

“Christ Gabriella say something…yell at me,
anything but for
fuck’s sake
stop echoing my every word,”
grates Aidan. His impassive expression is replaced by one of
exasperation in response to my reaction to his little break-up
speech.

Oh, okay so now he shows me some emotion. I
don’t fucking think so!

“What do you want me to say Aidan,” I snap
coolly. “I think that you’ve articulated yourself quite well on the
matter of our relationship or rather the end of it.” My tone is
frigid.

Aidan eyes blaze then he schools his features
into an impassive gaze once more.

I want to say more but I bite my tongue. I
really want to ask him why he fucking played me like this. All the
things he said to me; about being his, how he insistently pursued
me, the phone calls, the text messages, the dinners, it was his
idea to start a relationship together, for us to date.

Well fuck him! I will
not
crumble in
front of him and there is no way in hell I’ll let him see my heart
breaking in two.

I see it all too clearly now. Aidan literally
has a heart of stone. A heart so impenetrable nothing is capable of
getting through. And like the naïve foolish young girl I am I
thought I could break through his stone heart. I thought he could
fall in love with me like I have fallen in love with him.

Oh my God – what a pathetic fool I’ve
been!

Aidan opens his mouth to reply but I beat him
to it. “Don’t!” I bite, “Just don’t say anything more please Aidan.
I think you have made yourself very clear at this point.”

Unfolding my legs I stand muttering, “I’ll
just go and get dressed and call Mia to pick me up.”

“I’ll drive you home Gabriella,” asserts
Aidan standing up from his chair.

“No. That’s ok Aidan, I’ll call Mia.”

“Gabriella,” he chides sternly. “I said I
will drive you home.”

The loose hold I have on my emotions snap as
I whirl around to face Aidan. “Stop!” I shout. Taking a deep breath
I calmly add, “Just stop. Please. I’m going to get dressed and then
I’m going to call Mia to come and get me and then I’ll be out of
your way. She doesn’t live too far from you and it will only take
her fifteen minutes to get here.”

Aidan reaches out for my arm with his hand
but I quickly pull away increasing the distance between us. Closing
my eyes I plead quietly in a small broken voice, “Please Aidan,
don’t touch me. Please, just give me some space. I really want Mia
to come and get me.”

Opening my eyes I watch as Aidan stares at me
for several moments than nods his head in capitulation.

“Thank you,” I whisper moving towards the
door.

****

Aidan is standing at the front door as I walk
out of his bedroom. I’m dressed in last nights’ cloths and Mia has
just messaged me to say that she is parked out the front of Aidan’s
and is waiting for me. I didn’t say anything more to Mia other than
ask her to come and pick me up. Mia knew by the tone of my voice
that something was really wrong. She promised to leave immediately
and she would message me when she got to Aidan’s.

I didn’t go back out to the patio or the
kitchen while I waited for Mia. I got dressed and sat on the end of
Aidan’s bed waiting for her to text me. I spent the small amount of
time alone remembering every single kiss he gave me, every word he
spoke and every touch we shared in his bedroom. Morbid I know, but
I wanted to commit to memory every single moment of our time
together because although it apparently didn’t mean anything to
Aidan, our brief time together meant the world to me.

Aidan didn’t come into his room and I
suspected he was giving me the space I asked for. I refused to let
a single tear drop. I was numb, cold – so, so cold and now I wanted
nothing more than to curl up on my own bed, close my eyes and try
to process what just happened. Less than eight hours ago I was
being held in the strong warm arms of a man that I had fallen madly
head over heels in love with and now – now that same beautiful,
sweet, powerful man crushed me with four fucking words.

‘
I’m sorry, I can’t.’

“Gabriella, I -” says Aidan as I walk towards
him.

“Please Aidan, don’t,” I say softly cutting
him off.

I stand up on tippy toes and place a soft
tender kiss on the side of his beautiful cheek.

“Goodbye Aidan.”

“Gabriella,” rasps Aidan hoarsely as I
hastily I open the door and without looking back I walk swiftly to
Mia’s Jeep.

It is so hard. It’s the hardest fucking thing
I have ever had to do in my life but I refuse to look back at him –
I keep walking with my head held high biting my bottom lip so hard
that this time I do draw blood and as the salty coppery taste fills
my mouth I open the car door of Mia’s Jeep and get in.

“What the fuck?” Says Mia as I buckle my
seatbelt.

“Please M, please – not until we get home,” I
softly beg Mia. Mia looks me straight in the eyes for a moment
draws both her lips into her mouth in an effort not to say another
word and then on a small nod of her head she turns and starts the
car and drives us home.

I refuse to look back at Aidan’s front door
as we drive off - I keep my eyes dead center on the road in front
of us and concentrate on breathing in and out.

But if I had of looked back I would have seen
Aidan standing bare footed, shoulder leant against the frame of his
front door with the most incredibly heart-wrenching remorseful
expression carved on his beautiful face.

****

Mia opens the front door to her condo and I
silently walked through to my bedroom dropping my purse on the
floor and immediately crawling into my bed, curling up into a fetal
position. We hadn’t spoken one single word to each other on the
drive home but Mia did reach out and clasp my hand and I instantly
gripped it – holding hers tightly. Mia understood that I had to
hold it together, at least until we were safely home.

I feel the bed depress as Mia climbs in and
curving her front to my back she wraps her arms around me securely.
Inhaling sharply I let out a sob. Then another sob followed by
another one.

“Gabby honey, I got you. Let it out babe,”
coos Mia.

With that my whole body convulses violently
as I cry excruciatingly soul-wrenching, body-racking sobs from the
very core of my being.

End of Part One.

Thank you for reading Heart of Stone.

The conclusion of Gabriella & Aidan’s
story “Carved in Stone” will be out in October 2013.

Acknowledgements.

This is my first book – novella – that I
finally had the courage to complete and put out there.

I couldn’t have done it without the love,
encouragement and support of the very special women in my life.

Tamara, my darling baby girl, I love you to
the moon and back. Thank you for believing in me and patiently
listening to me ramble on about the characters everyday. I love
that you love Aidan almost as much as me.

Brigette, my beautiful big sister, you
inspire and challenge me every single day. Your passion for books
and reading is a bond that we share and when we are ninety years
old we will still both be laying on your day bed in the warm sun
reading our Kindles together.

Chloe, thank you my gorgeous niece for your
honest feedback, support and encouragement.

Ebony-Rose, my wonderful daughter-in-law -
thank you for your creativity and design on the front cover.
Ashleigh, Niki, Anastasia and Rebeka – you gals are awesome!

Love you all from the bottom of my
heart.

Last but not least, to all the readers out
there, I hope you enjoyed the first part of Gabriella and Aidan’s
story. Thank you for taking the time to read their story.