Vengeance (15 page)

I looked up at him, my eyes filling with tears. “Why did you do it?”

“Jump in front of you?” When I nodded, he said, “Because I love you, Jade.”

“How?” I asked, not understanding how he could love me again so soon. “I mean, love takes time, and it’s only been a few days.” I looked down at my feet.

“Jade?” He lifted my chin. “You may have made me forget that I loved you, but you never took it away.” When I scrunched up my face in confusion, he added, “Something happened to me when I saw Nathan come at you with that knife. It was like something just clicked, and I not only remembered how much I love you, but I felt it, too.”

A tear slipped from my eye as his words replayed in my mind—words I had been afraid I’d never hear again.

“I love you, Jade.”

“I love you, too.”

He opened his mind to me so I could see how true his words were.

“Thank you,” I whispered, as another tear escaped.

He wanted me to do the same. A smile spread across his gorgeous face as I dropped my mind barrier. Aiden took a step closer and reached out to me. I held his gaze, never once doubting his love for me. I knew it was real.

He put his finger underneath the belt of my robe and looked at me, silently asking for permission. I nodded, and he slowly untied the belt. My robe fell to the floor, leaving me naked in front of him. I sucked in a sharp breath as he looked at my body. He had seen me naked before, but watching him take in every inch of my body and lock the memory away in his mind forever sent my heart racing for more.

He was mine, not because someone made him want me but because
he
wanted me. He wanted me so badly it took every ounce of his strength to slow down because that was what he thought I deserved.

I put my hands on his chest, feeling his heart rate soar. I moved my hands down his stomach, stopping when I reached the tie to his robe.

My breath caught when his robe fell open, leaving me inches away from the body I thought I’d never touch again. I traced the thin white line that was all that was left of his wound. In a matter of hours, even that mark would be completely gone.

Aiden cupped my face in his hand, letting his thumb brush over my lips. He leaned in and kissed me. All the restraint we both had went to hell the moment our lips touched.

He pushed my back up against the wall. Holding me suspended off the floor, Aiden kissed me as he had never kissed me before. Every fibre of his being was focused on how my body was responding to his, and I was glad as hell that Chelsea and Lucas weren’t there to hear us.

Chapter 16

Aiden twirled a piece of my hair through his fingers as he lay beside me, looking into my eyes. “I’ve missed this.”

“I’ve missed this, too.” As much as I wanted to stay there in our own little safe bubble, I knew that bubble was about to pop. “We have to go to the hospital.”

“I know,” he replied, making no attempt to move. He kept playing with my hair.

“We should probably get out of bed soon.”

“I know.”

I laughed softly as I leaned closer and kissed his lips. Aiden finally dropped my hair and moved his hand over my hip and onto my back, pulling my body against his.

“We can’t do this again,” I said between his kiss.

He stopped briefly to say, “I know,” before his lips were once again against mine.

“Oh, God,” I mumbled into his mouth. I was torn. Never before had I wanted to be alone with him as much as I did that very second, but we’d already taken enough time to get “cleaned up.”

Aiden pulled away and looked at me with a smirk. “So I’m a god now, am I?”

I laughed and pushed at his chest.

“Hey,” he said, “you know I was stabbed there only a couple of hours ago.”

My smile vanished. He had meant it as a joke, but I didn’t think I would ever see it that way.

He squeezed my hand. “I was only joking.”

I dropped my eyes to the thin white line. “I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“You were stabbed because of me.”

He lifted my chin. “I was stabbed because I couldn’t live if something happened to you. Nathan is the only one responsible. And I don’t want you ever blaming yourself because I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

A single tear rolled down my cheek.

“No more tears,” he said, wiping it away with his thumb.

I nodded. “No more tears.”

He kissed my forehead. “Well, I guess we should get ready.”

I sighed. “I guess so.”

“But we’re going to have to get some clothes.”

“Crap. Where are we going to get some clothes?”

He smiled. “There’s a shop downstairs.”

I raised my eyebrows. “And you expect me to go downstairs in what?”

“Your robe.” Before I had a chance to freak out, he added, “I’m just kidding.” He reached over to the phone on the bedside table, picked it up, pressed a button, then put it to his ear.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Aiden put his robe back on then disappeared into the other room.

“Thank you,” I heard him say, then he closed the door and came back in, holding four bags from the hotel’s boutique.

***

Five minutes later, we were in Marie’s hospital room with Chelsea and Lucas.

“Has she woken up at all?” I asked as I sat in the chair next to Chelsea.

She shook her head. “She’s been asleep since we got here.”

“People who are sick or injured usually sleep more than normal,” Lucas said.

“He’s right,” Aiden said.

“Unless they’re one of you,” Chelsea said, wishing she and her mum were like us.

The four of us fell quiet. What could we say? Of course she wished she was a next gen, but there was nothing she could do to change that. But there was something I could do to help.

I turned to Aiden, who was standing beside me. “I’ve got to go see Harry.”

“Now?” Aiden asked. All the previous animosity he’d showed toward Harry over the past few days had disappeared. Aiden was back to how he used to be, no longer threatened by other males.

I stood and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I like you so much better when you’re not jealous.”

Aiden draped his arms over my shoulders.
“I wasn’t jealous.”
When I raised my eyebrows, he added,
“Okay, so maybe I was a little. But could you blame me?”

Considering how I felt when I first found out about Georgia, the answer was no. But I didn’t tell him that. I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his.

“Righty-O,” Chelsea said. “Didn’t you guys get enough of each other over the last hour?”

I tore my lips from Aiden’s and looked at Chelsea, who had a smirk on her face. “Not nearly enough,” I said with a devilish grin.

“Okay, okay,” she said, waving me away. “I don’t want to hear about it.”

I almost snorted. “That’d be a first.”

Chelsea’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Anyway,” I said, ducking under Aiden’s arms, “as much as I’d love to stay here and embarrass you some more, I’ve got to go see Harry for a bit.”

“Is everything okay?” Lucas asked.

“Yep.” I nodded. “I just need to see him about the whole Nathan drugging thing,” I lied.

“Will you come back here?” Chelsea asked.

“Yeah. I’m not going to be there for long.”

“See you soon.” Aiden leaned down and kissed me before I phased out.

When my feet touched solid ground, I kept my eyes shut, afraid of where or what Harry had been doing when I transported to him. “Hello?”

He didn’t answer.

“Harry?”

Again, no answer.

“I know you’re here. I can feel you.”

“Then why don’t you open your eyes?” he asked with a laugh.

I slowly opened my eyes, preparing to shut them again in case he was in the loo or something. I breathed a sigh of relief. Finding him reading an iPad in bed was far less embarrassing than turning up while he was using the toilet.

He put his iPad on the bedside table. “What can I help you with?”

“Umm,” I said, trying to figure out the right way to say what I needed to say. The problem was, there was no right way. “You know how Nathan gave my blood to Grandma, and it healed her?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I was thinking I could do the same to Marie.”

“Marie?”

“Chelsea’s mum.”

“Ah, right.”

“So you’ll help me do it?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t say that.”

“What are you saying then?”

Harry swung his legs off the side of the bed. “I’m saying that your mum would probably have my arse if I helped you.”

I took a step forward. “I don’t care what Mum says. Marie’s in hospital because of me, and if there’s a way I can fix her, then I want to do it.”

A smile slowly spread across his face. “You’re lucky I don’t care for my arse then, aren’t you?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious. But if you want this to work, you can’t tell your mother until it’s done.”

I nodded. “Sure thing.” It wasn’t as if she’d never kept stuff from me. “So what do we do now?”

He stood up. “First, we’ll need to take some of your blood.”

I cringed.

“Still not over your fear of needles?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

Harry picked up his shoes near the door and sat down on the bed to put them on. “I’m going to need to go back to the room to get some supplies.” By supplies, he meant needles, but he thought he would do me a favour and not say the word. The problem was that his thoughts would betray his good intentions every time.

“Okay, well, I’m going to go back to the hospital, and then I’ll meet you over there.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I mean, we can do it back here.”

I shrugged. “Okay, we’ll meet you back here then.”

“We?”

“I’m going to have to tell Aiden, and I’m guessing he’ll want to come with me.”

After how Aiden had acted the last time, Harry was surprised Aiden wasn’t there already to make sure no one else came close to his territory.

I laughed at his thoughts, thinking how true they were. Aiden had acted like a dog protecting a bone.

“What?” Harry asked.

“Nothing,” I said with a smile. “I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes?”

“I’ll be here.”

Just as I was about to phase out, Harry realized why I was laughing. He had forgotten I could hear his thoughts. And he feared how his next meeting with Aiden was going to be if I told Aiden that he’d likened him to a dog.

I chuckled. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

I transported to the spot behind the tree I’d used when I was dropping off Chelsea to the hospital then walked up the pathway and through the main entrance.

When I arrived back at Marie’s room, the nurses were already inside, changing her bandages. Marie was awake and couldn’t understand why she wasn’t feeling any more pain. But she wasn’t complaining.

“Aiden?”
I wanted to get his attention without disturbing everyone else.

He looked up and smiled.

“Come out here for a minute.”

Aiden excused himself and followed me out of the room. “Is everything okay?”

“Yep.” I laced my fingers through his. “I just need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.” He walked with me to the visitors’ room.

Like the last time we were there, the room was filled with worried family members and friends. Aiden once again filled them with much needed calmness and positive thinking. We made our way to a spare table in the back corner of the room and sat down.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”
he asked.

I took a deep breath, hoping that Aiden was going to be on board with my plan and not make me do it without his support.
“I went to see Harry about helping Marie.”

He narrowed his eyes at me.
“Helping her in what way?”

“He’s going to take some of my blood and inject it into her like Nathan did to my grandma.”

Aiden sat there in silence for a moment.
“I think that’s a great idea.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“You do?”

He laughed internally.
“Of course I do. What did you think? That I was going to tell you what a bad idea it is?”
When I nodded, he continued.
“It’s one of the best ideas you’ve come up with. Because let’s face it, we can’t keep coming back here every day. Nathan knows our routine, and Marie’s not safe here without one of us here to protect her. And after what happened at dinner, I’m not sure even we could save her from Nathan.”

“He’s like some souped-up cold-blooded killer. I don’t know how we’re going to stop him.”

Aiden put his hand over mine.
“We’ll find a way.”

Chapter 17

We left without telling Lucas and Chelsea where we were going. We figured we’d be back before they even knew we were gone.

Harry was already waiting for us when we arrived at his room.

“About time,” he joked.

But when there was a needle involved, I was never in a joking frame of mind. “Where do you want me to do this?” I asked.

Harry pointed at the bed. “You can sit there if you want.”

I perched on the end of the bed, and Aiden sat beside me. He lifted his arm, and I snuggled into his side.

“How are you feeling now?” Harry asked Aiden as he pulled out the rubber tubing and tied it around my arm.

“I’m completely fine. There’s only a thin white line remaining, which should disappear soon.”

“Good.” Harry dabbed my skin with the alcohol wipe.

My heart began pounding as I realised that since I was no longer drugged, Aiden and Harry weren’t able to calm my nerves. It was up to me. Because I had never done it to myself, I wasn’t sure I could work out how to do it in time.

Harry put down the wipe and picked up the needle.

I slammed my eyes closed and concentrated on making myself calm. A second later, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had done it.

“All done,” Harry said, pulling out the needle. He pressed a cotton ball against my skin then removed it. “Already healed,” he said in surprise. Usually it took less than a minute, not a second or two. “You know, one of these days, we’re going to have to find out why you’re so different.”