♥️

"You what!" I scream at Ashley, for the first time in my life. How could she?

With a weak smile she looks at me pointedly, "Em, we couldn't find you. We had no idea where you were, what choice did I have?"

"Absolutely any other choice besides this one." My eyes roll, giving me a full view of the cabin bedroom that I've been staying in. After the homecoming downstairs Ash brought me here to tell me this.

"When is she coming?" I huff, crossing my arms.

Ashley looks around, trying to determine the best way to tell me more bad news. "She'll be here within the hour."

Aiden peeps in, I'm sure he heard our shouting, hell the whole state probably did. I look at him, "My mom will be here in an hour." I pout, fear coursing through me.

"Oh." Is all he says, then he tries to slip out of the conversation.

"Oh?" I stomp, he cuts his eyes to me and I relax. Why does him being so dominating bring me a sense of calm? Maybe it was like what he was saying on the plane... I crave structure and order. He is that structure and order, but I can't think about any of that right now.

A chill shoots up my spine, "Aiden." I say to him, he turns around. "Will she be safe coming here?" I throw my hands up, realizing I don't even know where we are. I tried looking at the license plates, but Leo deterred me from seeing the backs of any vehicles here and we left so late that night going to Italy, the road signs were just unfamiliar street names. Besides, I was too excited about finding Aiden to think about where our location was.

"Yes. she will be safe, Howard is on his way to get her." So that's where Howard was.

I lift my brows "You knew!"

"Yes, I found out before Ashley brought you in here."

I take a deep breath, "So, where are we?"

Aiden pinches the bridge of his nose, "The safe house is located in Oregon still, it's an hour from Corvallis."

I take a relieving breath, knowing she's safe. "She's going to kill me."

"You're going to have to lie sweetheart." He says, his eyes slowly moving around the room.

"I suck at lying!"

They both look between each other and simultaneously say, "We know."

Aiden picks up a piece of my clothing, examining it. "Emilia, tell me why your things are in this room?"

I sigh, "I've been staying in here."

He pinches the bridge of his nose, "You we're meant to stay in the master bedroom, it's better."

I throw my hands up, "None of this matters! I wanted to stay in this one. The most important issue is that I'm going to be a dead woman come sixty minutes."

Aiden gives a smirk; I know he things I'm being dramatic, but he doesn't get it. "It's not going to be a big deal. Ash, what did you tell her?"

She looks around the room, attempting to avoid the question. "I... Well."

"Spit it out." He says, his tone dark. I know I'm upset with her but too much has happened for any of us to be hostile towards each other.

"Okay, let's take a seat and a breather." Everyone listens and we sit on her bed, not saying a word for a moment. I break the ice. "Okay, Ash. I'm sorry for freaking out its just... I don't want her to hate Aiden if she thinks I just ran away, She's probably sick worrying where I've been as you all were, and I don't want her in danger."

"I understand completely, you don't have to explain to me, I was just so worried. I figured you went there after I heard you 'ran away', so I called her. She got a little panicked thinking something happened to you."

I nod, "Where does she think Aiden was?"

"Well after she calmed down, she asked where he was. I didn't know what to say, I told her yall left together even though..." she gives us a frown, but she can't hold it long as she looks at him with a weak smile.

Aiden nods his head, "Okay, that's good."

I run my hand through my hair, reminding myself of Aiden. "I know I'm eighteen, I'm an adult but that's not why I'm freaking out. It's just, me and my mom are all we have for family, after we lost dad, she held onto me so tightly it was suffocating." I sigh, "I understand now why she did it, but she worked so hard going to therapy and going through the proper steps of grieving that I don't want her worrying about me." I look to Aiden, "And she really likes you, I don't want her opinion on you to change."

"It can be salvaged." He assures me, pulling my hands from where I've buried my face in them.

"How?"

He shrugs, so calm. "We can say it was a misunderstanding." He looks over to Ash. "Anything you can think of?"

Ashley thinks for a moment, then she gives a bright smile looking at me, "Well, you got that scholarship!" She squeals, then instantly clamps her hands over her mouth.

"Scholarship?" Aiden cocks his brow at me.

To be honest, I haven't had time to think about the scholarship. "I got a full ride to Portland State." I blush.

He jumps up from the bed and wraps me in a hug, "That's wonderful babe!"

I shake my head, "Not really."

"Why not?"

"I'm not going." I say in a small voice.

He looks down at me, narrowing his eyes. "The fuck you aren't."

Ashley shifts uncomfortably on the mattress.

I try to reason with him, "Look, we don't know who took you. We have no clue what the future holds. We can't just return to our normal lives. I can't."

"I can't!" He exclaims. "You can.' He gestures between the two of us, "They don't know you, either of you."

A laugh escapes my lips, "So what, you'll just live here while we move back?"

"No, just.... None of that is important tight now. I'm so proud of you and this will work to your advantage."

"How?" I ask.

"Okay, so she thought you two were at a summer retreat for a month, right?"

We both nod out heads.

"Okay, it's been a few weeks so we will just tell her that once I found out about your scholarship, we decided to have a celebratory vacation. No harm in that, right?"

"Right." I say, slightly de-thawing.

Then I frown, "That still doesn't help the phone call Ash made, what will we say about that?"

"Let me worry about all of that. For now, we celebrate my return." He gives a cocky grin.

***

I start to relax after a glass of wine. I point to the suited men around the room. "All of you in suits!" I yell, their heads turn to me.

"You're not guards tonight, your friends of Aiden. My mom is coming, she doesn't need to know we have as much security as the Kardashians so please, go change into something comfortable."

Leo nods his head, the other men don't respond. Aiden steps forward narrowing his eyes. "You heard her, right?" They all nod their heads and exit quickly.

I hear a car door slam, then the tapping of my mom's heels against the stone entryway. The door knob turns.

♥️

See y'all tomorrow!

See, it wasn't so bad lol

SO Stephen James liked the last photo I posted of him on Instagram OMG 😭🤗 Hardinsgirl1